>Glimmer's birthday is coming up
>Which is why you find yourself halfway across the world in a Saddle Arabian market talking to a creepy ass zebra with one eye looking for a book you have a vague description of and a childish sketch
>Miracously he actually recognizes the picture and procures it for you
>One sack of your wife's gold later you're riding home with this funky ass time tucked under your arm
>You swear the horse skull on the cover whispers to you between bumps on the carriage ride
>The big day comes
>You give it to her
>You can practically hear the horseapples hit the floor
>She starts reading it before she's even finished her cake
>About two weeks later you come home late
>Light up the lantern
>Shadows slowly and sluggishly pour back from the light and refuse to be dispelled
>You walk through the castle, black fog pooling at your knees and hiding the floor
>Owlicious flies by nearly missing your face
>Somewhat disconcerning since he died two years ago
>Somewhere in the blackness you hear the mewling of her old cat too
>You try not to kick it as you walk up the stairs
>Shrugging off the cold hands weakly grasping at your arms and ignoring the grim whispers you trudge on to your daughter's room
>Kick it open
>"Ugh, Dad!"
>She's channeling some bullshit from the time which is currently floating midair and serving as the head to some spectral horse leaning on a scythe
>On a flippin' scythe
"What time is it?"
>"Nine-, uh-"
>She realizes it's nearly midnight
>"I'm uh, sorry Dad let me just clean up a little and"
"No magic after ten, in bed by eleven."
>"Dad come on let me just-"
>You grab her by the shoulder
>Leaning back onto her bed you topple her over onto your lap
>"H-Hey!"
>You clap them cheeks
>The Skelton horse in the room sheepishly looks away as Glimmer fidgets and kicks
>"Oh god Dad l'm 23 now stop doing this!"
>You continue unabated
>All the while reassuring yourself it was just another faze, like the two years she was super into potions