Lightning Bugs
“Are you mad at me, dad?”
Carrot Cake stopped mopping the floor and turned back to look at his daughter. She was cleaning the kitchen table using two napkins, one on her hoof and the other controlled by her magic. She was looking at him with her ears down, and wielding her best apology face.
“I’m not mad, sweetie,” smiled Carrot, going back to mopping. “It wasn’t your fault, accidents happen when somepony starts learning to bake, it’s normal. Besides, this is a kitchen. It gets dirty all the time.”
‘Though not like this,’ he thought, looking at the spots of dough, flour and strawberry frosting which dotted the entire place, including the ceiling.
“Anyway, we’d better leave this place clean and shiny before your mother comes back and sees it. Or even worse, your brother.”
“I know,” growled Pumpkin as she rubbed the napkin hard against the table, trying to clean a rebel stain. “Pound gets angry whenever we ruin his precious kitchen. I don’t know why, it’s not even his kitchen, it’s yours!”
“But it will be his kitchen one day,” Carrot introduced the mop in the bucket and wrung it. “It’s natural that he feels... a bit overprotective of it.”
“A bit?”
“Ok, ok,” Carrot chuckled. “Maybe a lot. But even if he shouts and gets angry sometimes, you know that he never means it. He’s your brother, and he still loves you no matter what.”
“I know, dad. I just wish he wasn’t so obsessed with the kitchen.”
Carrot chuckled again because, of all the things he had thought ponies would say about his son, ‘obsessed with the kitchen’ had never been one of them. He had thought that Pound, always flying everywhere, and trotting when his little baby wings lost their initial strength; would be the rebel one, the young colt with a free spirit and desire to see the world, the one who would give the headaches to him and Cup. On the other hoof, Carrot had always thought that Pumpkin would be the quiet one, as all she did most of the time was sit quietly in a corner and chew things. She seemed like the perfect candidate to inherit her parents’ passion for baking.
But as time passed and the years of diapers and pacifiers were left behind, life proved the stallion wrong. Pound had ended up being the calm one, a young and polite colt who soon discovered delight in the family business, even earning his cutie mark for it. He even looked after his mother, with a short muzzle and a roundy body. Pound hadn’t given them anymore flight-related problems, in fact he didn’t even seem interested in flying anymore, behaving more like an earth pony with wings attached rather than a full pegasus.
As for Pumpkin, she ended up being the hard-to-control kid, the unquiet one. She was always trying new things, always asking, always exploring, to the point that her parents had scolded her several times for going on adventures far too often and coming home late. Unlike Pound, she fully embraced her unicorn inheritage, training her telekinesis and the illumination spell as soon as she learned to control the energies of her horn. Pumpkin looked like her father, with a slim body and taller than most fillies of her age. Carrot just prayed that she didn’t develop his jaw too. A rectangular chin wasn’t the most appropriate thing for a mare.
Also unlike Pound, Pumpkin hadn’t really connected with the art of baking, and she wasn’t as comfortable in the kitchen as her brother.
Of course, that didn’t stop her from trying, as the new decoration proved.
“I mean, it’s going to be my kitchen too, someday,” she continued.
“Well, you don’t know that,” said Carrot. “Of course, you can use this kitchen whenever you want once you learn, but if your cutie mark is not about cooking, then it won’t be as important for you as it is for Pound.”
Pumpkin stared at her father.
“Don’t say that!” she shouted, startling Carrot, who almost dropped the mop. “I will get my cutie mark in cooking, like mom and you, and like Pound! I know I can do it, I’m improving! This time wasn’t as bad as the last one, wasn’t it?”
“Eh...” Carrot looked at all the surface they still needed to clean. “I admit it’s not as bad as the last time we tried, but—”
“See?” Pumpkin puffed out her chest proudly. “Just a few more sessions, and I’ll stop being a blank flank!”
“I’m not saying you can’t do it... But maybe you should try a few different things, just in case. You used to do that, remember?” A nostalgic smile appeared on Carrot’s face. “One or two years ago, you were always running from one place to another, hoping to find your cutie mark in the first thing you saw on the street,” he chuckled. “You even asked Rarity to let you sew a dress, remember?”
“I was a little filly back then,” replied Pumpkin, avoiding her father’s eyes and concentrating on cleaning the rest of the table. “Now I’m a big filly, and I have to take this seriously. I mean, it’s my cutie mark! I can’t just go trying random things, I have to choose one and focus!”
“That’s very nice Pumpkin... But you know, maybe you should have other options, in case you chose the wrong one...”
“I didn’t!”
“Ok, ok,” Carrot decided to stop and wait for a better time to advise his daughter about cutie marks. Arguing with her when she was in that mood was never a good idea, nor an easy task. “Come on, sweetie, let’s leave this place as gold jets!”
They continued with the cleaning, but this time in silence. Carrot didn’t dare to start anymore conversations, fearing that some wrong word could enrage his little girl even more. He mopped quietly, briefly looking at her from time to time. Pumpkin was frowning, with her eyes focused on the job, rubbing the napkins angrily. The only good thing that came from that was that all the stains on her side of the kitchen were quickly and mercilessly eliminated.
After an hour of hard work, they were done. The kitchen was shiny and clean. Nopony would ever suspect of the culinary disaster that had taken place in there sixty minutes before.
“Good as new,” said Carrot, putting the mop in the broom closet. “Ok Pumpkin, practice time is over. Now daddy has to use the kitchen to prepare a few deliveries.”
“Ok, dad, I won’t bother you. I’ll go to my room to study a bit more about baking.”
“Maybe you should rest a bit.” Although, as a confectioner himself, Carrot was happy that his daughter was interested in the subject; it was also true that she seemed a bit too interested, in fact some ponies could say that she was obsessed, and not in a healthy way, and that worried him. “I know! It’s almost sunset, why don’t you go to the river to watch the fireflies?”
Another thing that Carrot would’ve never thought about his daughter would be that she would be ever interested in fireflies, or insects for that matter. But, once again, the growth of his kids had surprised him. Carrot still remembered the night Pumpkin had seen a firefly for the first time.
Their dreams were interrupted when the ear-piercing screams thundered across the building. Cup and Carrot almost catapulted themselves out of the bed, confused and startled due to the abrupt awakening. It didn’t take long for them to recognize the situation.
“It’s the twins!” said husband and wife in perfect synchronization.
They jumped out of the bed and trotted quickly across the corridor to the babies' room. There they found the twins, each one in its crib, crying in desperation.
“Oh, my little biscuit...” said Cup gently, as she took Pound Cake in her arms.
“Sssh...” said Carrot tenderly, as he cradled Pumpkin Cake in his arms. “Mommy and daddy are here.”
However, those words didn’t help. The twins kept crying.
“What is it, gingersnap?” asked Cup, trying to figure the problem. “Do you need a diaper change?” she touched the diaper. “No, it’s not that. Are you hungry?”
“I don’t think so, they both had a big dinner,” said Carrot. “Maybe one of them had a nightmare, screamed and woke up the other.”
“Oh, my poor babies,” Cup hugged Pound tighter, resting the head of the foal on her chest. “You were scared, weren’t you? Don’t worry, mommy is here...”
Thus started another episode of vigil, with the two parents trying to calm down their kids. Minutes passed with much less speed than Cup and Carrot would’ve preferred, drowned in the cries and sobs of the foals. Pinkie was in Canterlot to help with the royal wedding of Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor, so they couldn’t count on her help, which would’ve made things much easier. The two adult ponies took turns to sit in the rocking chair, and when one was occupying it the other would walk around the room, hoping that the movement would help pacify the babies, but it didn’t work.
“Maybe each other’s cries are making them nervous,” suggested Cup Cake. “I’ll take Pound to our room and see if I can make him sleep again.”
“Alright, sugar plum,” said Carrot, sitting in the rocking chair, with a still crying Pumpkin in his arms.
As his wife abandoned the room, Carrot started to rock back and forth in the chair, slowly, humming a lullaby mixed with pleas to his daughter.
“Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to lay your sleepy head... Hush now, quiet now, there’s no reason to be scared... Come on, sweetie; go back to sleep... Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to go to bed... Daddy has to work tomorrow...”
Sadly for him, the song didn’t help the situation. On the contrary, the stallion found himself affected by his own lullaby. His eyelids were trying to close against his will. ‘Oh, come on!’, he thought. ‘As if this situation wasn’t...’ he yawned. ‘Difficult... enough... already...’
His eyes closed. For a second, the conscious part of his brain turned off the lights and stepped briefly in the land of dreams before remembering that they had to take care of Pumpkin first. Carrot recovered instantly, woke up and resumed his lullaby.
Much to his surprise, that wasn’t necessary.
Pumpkin wasn’t crying anymore. She hadn’t fallen asleep, but she was quiet. She had become a soft ball in his arms, staring calmly at the window with her little eyes widely opened.
Carrot sighed in relief, sure that the problem had somehow solved itself. Carefully, he stepped down the rocking chair and approached his daughter’s crib. However, as he was about to put her down and tuck her, the foal moaned in protest and waved her hooves towards the window.
“What is it, honey?” asked Carrot. “Is there something in the window? You wanna go there?”
The stallion decided to follow the indications of the baby. Maybe that would be helpful, maybe it would make things easier. Carrot carried Pumpkin towards the window, and he noticed four tiny lights which were dancing in the night, on the other side of the glass. Pumpkin giggled and touched the glass with her little hooves.
Fireflies.
Carrot looked at the insects, then at his daughter.
“Do you like them, Pumpkin?”
The foal giggled again. Outside, the fireflies flew closer to the window, as if they wanted to touch Pumpkin as much as she wanted to touch them.
“Do you like them?” asked Carrot again, smiling. “They’re called ‘fireflies’, Pumpkin. Can you say it? Can you say ‘fireflies’?”
“Iefies!”
Carrot chuckled.
“That’s right, sweetie. Fireflies.”
“Iefies!”
The insects continued their dance, like starts deached from the sky. They flew in spirals, up and down, dim yet beautiful lights in a night ballet. Pumpkin’s eyes sparkled as she contemplated that spectacle she had never seen before. Even Carrot’s sleepiness was taken away by the dancing lights.
He heard a yawn. He looked down and saw his daughter falling asleep, slowly. Her eyes were still following the movement of the insects as they closed and her breath became calmer.
Carrot stepped back from the window. When he reached the crib, Pumpkin was already in the world of dreams. He tucked her in with care and love, and before going away he kissed her on the forehead.
“May the fireflies give you sweet dreams.”
From that day forward, Pumpkin’s interest in the luminous insects had grown more and more. The first thing she did when she learned to read was to rush to the library and ask Twilight for a book about fireflies. She read it so many times that she ended up memorizing it. The fireflies had the magic to make her happy, truly happy. Whenever she felt sad, she used to go to the river at sunset, where she would meet with her tiny friends, who would lift her spirit and put a smile on her face.
That’s why, when Carrot suggested his daughter to do that same thing that afternoon after the fiasco in the kitchen, he was shocked by Pumpkin’s answer:
“No! I don’t want to see fireflies ever again!”
The whole room sunk in an uncomfortable silence. Confused and surprised, Carrot Cake could only look at his daughter without muttering a word. He had seen her reacting that way several times before, but never in regard to her beloved lightning bugs.
Pumpkin didn’t look back at her father, she just turned around and trotted out of the kitchen.
“I’m going to my room!” she shouted. “To study! Don’t bother me!”
Carrot didn’t move for a while. He stood there, in silence, hearing the steps of his daughter disappearing to the second floor. He knew that something was not right there. He had started to suspect it when Pumpkin had stopped trying any other options to focus only on baking. Carrot had thought that maybe it was just a phase, a temporary obsession that would vanish eventually, and then Pumpkin would go back to be the same energetic filly as always. However, the obsession had grown. The last time Carrot had gone to his daughter’s room to remind her that it was time to turn the lights off and go to sleep, he hadn't found her reading a book about fireflies, but one about baking. She didn’t go out at sunset as often as before, in fact he realized that she hadn’t gone out in the last two weeks, preferring to practice in the kitchen.
But the worst of all, the reason why Carrot suspected that something was not right, was that Pumpkin didn’t seem as happy as before. The frowns and the screams had become more and more usual, while the smiles, her smiles which he loved so much, had almost completely disappeared.
And now she had confirmed that she didn’t want to see her fireflies anymore. Carrot was worried, now there was no doubt that something strange was happening to his daughter.
He walked to the main door of the bakery and flipped the sign to ‘closed’. The deliveries could wait. The clients could wait. He could not bake anything, not until he discovered whatever was tormenting his daughter and fixed it.
Not until he could see her smiles again.
‘I still can’t believe it,’ he thought as he went upstairs. ‘What could’ve caused her to reject her fireflies? I’d never thought she would do such a thing, especially not since that time...’
“Papa! Papa!”
Carrot interrupted the frosting of the cupcakes and turned around. He looked down at his daughter, who was trotting towards him with a hoof raised.
“What is it, sweetie pie?”
“Look!” she showed him her hoof. “Look what I’ve found!”
A tiny creature was resting on it, a small beetle. Carrot recognized it, if only for the dozens of times he had read to Pumpkin that picture book about them:
“Oh, it’s a firefly!”
“Yes! It was in the garden! But it doesn’t shine...”
“Well, of course. Fireflies only shine at night, honey.”
On the yellow hoof, the insect flapped its wings, trying to set off, but to no avail.
“It can’t fly,” observed Pumpkin.
Carrot looked carefully at the bug. One of the wings was twisted in such a way that, even though he wasn’t an entomologist, he could tell it was not natural.
“I think it’s hurt,” he explained.
“A boo-boo?”
“Yes, a boo-boo in its wing.”
Pumpkin raised her hoof towards her father.
“Make him better?” she asked.
“I can’t honey,” said Carrot. “I’m not a vet. Sorry.”
Pumpkin’s ears dropped and she looked at the wounded insect with sadness in her face. However, an idea ignited in her young mind and she raised her head, with her eyes sparkling and a hopeful smile.
“Let’s go to aunt Flutt-t-rshy!” she said. “Aunt Flutt-t-rshy will make him better!”
“Now?” Carrot scratched the back of his head, something he always did when he felt uncomfortable. He didn’t like to deny things to his children, especially his little girl. However... “Sweetie, I need to finish this batch...”
Pumpkin got closer to him.
“Pwease?”
‘Oh, no,’ thought Carrot, ‘she’s learned the puppy eyes from Pinkie. Of all the things she could’ve learned from her...’
Pumpkin got even closer. Her lower lip trembled.
‘Be careful with this one, man,’ said a voice in Carrot’s head. ‘You can’t be a permissive dad forever, or you’ll spoil her. You have to learn to say ‘no’ at some point, otherwise she’ll bother you every time she finds an injured bug.’
For a brief moment, the stallion did nothing. He just stared down at his daughter, not answering her silent pleas.
Then, he smiled tenderly and wrapped a hoof around her, and a second voice in his head answered the first one:
‘But it’s my girl, and she has faith in me. I can’t let her down. Just this time. Just this time.’
“Alright, sweetness,” he said. “We’ll take your little friend to aunt Fluttershy’s house.”
“Yeah! Thank you, papa!”
Carrot asked Pinkie, who was at the counter, if she could finish frosting the cupcakes, and the pink mare quickly disappeared into the kitchen, leaving a cloud of pony-shaped dust behind her.
Father and daughter walked through the streets of Ponyville. All the way through, Pumpkin kept her hoof raised, holding the firefly and even saying comforting words to it. ‘Don’t worry, Mr. Bug, auntie Flutt-t-rshy will help you.’ ‘You will be fine.’ ‘Papa and I will protect you.’ Carrot was surprised by that. Normally it was the father’s job to assure their kids things were going to be fine. Pumpkin had not only stolen his lines for the insect, she was saying them with such conviction and confidence that it was amazing.
Eventually, they reached Fluttershy’s cottage. The yellow pegasus was already outside, feeding the birds who nested in her roof, so they didn’t need to call for her. As soon as she saw them, she flew down to bid them welcome.
“Hi, Mr. Cake,” she said. “Hello, Pumpkin! Oh, what do you have here?”
“A firefly,” explained the little unicorn. “He has a boo-boo in his wing.”
“Let me see,” Fluttershy took the insect from Pumpkin’s hoof. “Oh, poor little thing...”
“She found it in our garden, apparently,” explained Carrot. “She likes fireflies very much, you know? We were thinking that maybe you could heal it, if it’s not too much of a trouble...”
“Of course it isn’t,” Fluttershy smiled to Pumpkin. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of our little friend. He’ll be flying again very soon, you’ll see!”
The memories of that time faded away as soon as Mr. Cake reached his daughter’s room. Still wondering what could’ve caused such a change in his little girl, he raised a hoof and knocked.
“Pumpkin?” he called. “May I come in?”
There was a silence which lasted exactly five seconds, and each one of them hurt the heart of the stallion. Finally, a voice came from the other side:
“... Yes.”
Carrot opened the door and went inside. Pumpkin was on her bed, reading one of her books. She didn’t look at him.
Carrot walked towards his daughter. On the way he looked to the other books which were scattered across the floor, all of them related to cooking. Not the kind of reading material he would’ve expected to see in the room of a young filly. ‘Basis of baking’, ‘The Secrets of the Kitchen’, ‘15 Advices to Run your own Bakery’, ‘Recipes for Success’ and ‘Cooking With Love’ by Cup Cake.
At least they had gotten that one for free.
Carrot sat on the bed, next to Pumpkin, and for a moment he said nothing. He just looked at her as she read the same page of her book several times. It was obvious that she wasn’t enjoying it. At all.
“Sweetie,” he said, “is there anything you want to tell me?”
“No.” Her answer was short and cold. She didn’t move her eyes away from the book.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I am!”
Carrot scratched the back of his head, worried. Although she was just a few centimeters away, Pumpkin felt like a distant pony to him, as if there was an invisible wall between the two. That scared him. When had his little girl drifted away from him? When had she shielded herself against her own father?
The stallion felt a painful sting in his heart, as well as a cold chill through his spine. It had come. The moment that he, as a father, had been dreading for years had finally come. The moment when one of his kids would come to him not because of a broken toy or a wounded knee, but because of something much more complicated.
Or, in this case, the moment where one of his kids would escape from him because of something much more complicated.
And how could he, a simple baker, react in such situation? What advice could he give, a stallion whose whole life had revolved around the kitchen, he who only knew of pastries and pies? He, who was not a hero, not a sage, not a wizard of the distant Canterlot?
For a brief second, he thought of leaving the wall there. The frightful obstacle had presented itself much sooner than Carrot had expected, and he was scared, scared of not being able to help his daughter, scared of failing as a father.
But then, he noticed something. Behind the invisible wall, behind Pumpkin’s constant frown and behind the coldness of her voice; there was sadness. It was difficult to see, but it was there. Pumpkin was sad, even if she didn’t show it. Carrot knew. As a father, he knew, and as a father he could not stand that. Knowing that his girl was sad was much more painful than any invisible wall fate could present him.
He could not abandon her. Even if that was the moment he had been dreading for so much time, he could not run away. Carrot was ashamed of himself for even thinking of running away. He was still scared, he knew that it was going to be hard... but no one had said being a father would be easy.
Words from years before echoed in his mind:
‘It’s my girl, and she has faith in me. I can’t let her down.’
Carrot got closer to Pumpkin, who was still ignoring him.
“Sugarlump, if there’s something worrying you, whatever it is, you can—”
“Dad, I told you! I’m ok!” Pumpkin grabbed the book with her hooves and curled away from her father. “And you’re bothering me! I’m trying to study!”
“I’m sorry, I’m just worried about you. Why don’t you want to go see the fireflies anymore?”
“I just got bored of them!” Pumpkin pretty much spat those words. “Can’t a girl get bored of things?”
“Not this way. Not this sudden, especially if it’s about something you’ve hold dear since you were less than one year old, and especially if, whatever the reason is, it’s affecting you so much. Sweetie, I can barely recognize you! You’re always grumpy, you frown at everything and you spend your days in the kitchen our in your room.”
“Because I’m studying! I’m learning to be a better baker!”
“No, you aren’t,” Carrot closed her book. “Since I got here, you’ve been reading the same paragraph over and over without understanding a word. Studying wasn’t easy for me either, so I know it when I see it.”
Pumpkin tried to protest, but all the could do was mutter some ‘But!’ and some ‘You don’t...’ before giving up.
The invisible wall had been breached.
“You’re right,” she admitted, ears down. “I don’t get a thing of what I’m reading in this book, in any of these books! I try, I really try! I read till my eyes hurt, but I can’t understand anything!
“It’s ok, Pumpkin,” Carrot wrapped an arm around her. “What’s important is that you tried. Sometimes, no matter how much we try, we just can’t do it. Nopony can do everything. But that doesn’t mean you are not good at other things.”
Pumpkin buried her face on her father’s chest. Carrot felt the tears in his coat.
The invisible wall had crumbled.
“It’s ok, Pumpkin,” he reassured. “It’s ok.”
They did nothing else for a few minutes. Carrot kept hugging his daughter, letting her cry in his chest until she calmed down. However, the stallion wasn’t calmed at all. He was nervous, because he knew that they had only scraped the surface of the problem. Now it was the time to face Pumpkin’s real problems, whatever they were, and he wasn’t still sure if he could deal with them.
“Now,” he said. “Will you tell me now why you don’t like fireflies anymore?”
Pumpkin looked up at her father. Her eyes were red, and tears ran down her cheeks.
“I do!” she cried. “I love my fireflies! They make me so happy! When I’m with them, in the shore of the river, I feel such joy inside me, and I feel that the world is so pretty around me...”
“Then... why?”
“That’s just it, because they made me so happy! I’m afraid I’ll get a cutie mark about fireflies, and I don’t want one!”
Carrot was left speechless by that revelation. He had never heard of a pony who didn’t want to get a specific cutie mark.
“I want a baking cutie mark!” continued Pumpkin. “I want mom and you to be proud of me!”
“What are you talking about?”
“I saw how happy you were when Pound got his. You were happy and proud because now he can bake with you. I want that, too. I want mom and you to be proud of me and my cutie mark, that’s why I started to read all this stuff about cooking...”
“...and to ask me to give you lessons.”
“Yeah,” Pumpkin sniffed again. “But I can’t. No matter how hard I try, I can’t. I still want to get a cutie mark in cooking, but it’s so hard! And so boring! I miss my fireflies, but I can’t go back to them, because then I’ll get my cutie mark ‘bout insects, and then you won’t be proud of me,” she buried her face in the chest of Carrot again. “Daddy... I don’t know what to do...”
She started sobbing once more, trembling in her father’s hug. She couldn’t hide behind the wall anymore, and she was scared.
And Carrot? He was fine.
He was not trembling, he was not insecure, he was not afraid anymore because, although he had dreaded that situation since the day his kids were born, life had just given him another surprise: He knew exactly what to say.
“We’re already proud of you, Pumpkin.”
He hugged his daughter tighter and lowered his head, gently touching hers with his chin.
“You don’t have to get a baking cutie mark, if you don’t want,” he said. “You don’t have to get any cutie mark you don’t want, and you don’t need to become a baker like your brother for us to be proud of you.”
“But...” Pumpkin looked up. “But you looked so happy when Pound...”
Carrot stared at the teary eyes of his daughter.
“Well...” he sighed. He could not lie to her. “Yes, sweetie, we were. Sorry, it’s something that dads do. We feel happier when our kids follow in our steps. I guess it’s because, that way, we can teach them everything we know, we can guide them. And then, when it’s time for them to go, we know they’re going to be prepared for the world, and that is less scary for us. Mommies and daddies are ponies too, and they are afraid of things,” he gave her a tender smile. “But listen, if Pound’s cutie mark had been something totally different, we would've been happy for him anyway, and proud, and we wouldn’t have loved him any less. And I can assure you, my dear Pumpkin, that it doesn’t matter what your cutie mark will be, we’ll love you and be proud of you.”
“But... what if my cutie mark is—”
“It doesn’t matter,” repeated Carrot, cleaning Pumpkin’s tears with his hoof. “Look, honey; when I met your mom, when I knew I was in love with her and I wanted to spend the rest of my days with her, it wasn’t because of her cutie mark. When your brother and you were born, I didn’t care that your flanks were blank. All that mattered to me at that moment was that you were there, that you were healthy and that you were my children, mine and mommy’s. When we gave you your name we didn’t do it thinking of what cutie mark you could get. We did it thinking about how much we loved you. Because you are our little Pumpkin Cake, and no cutie mark will change that.”
There was a second of silence, and then Pumpkin cried again. However, this time her tears were not of sadness or for being lost in life. They were tears of regret for having doubted the love of her parents, and tears of happiness because she had realized how much they loved her. She embraced her father, holding tightly to her neck.
“I love you too, dad,” she muttered. “And I love mom, and Pound, and Pinkie. I love you all.”
“I know, sweetie,” Carrot patted his daughter’s back. “There, there... It’s alright. Mommy will be happy to know that we won’t be experimenting in the kitchen anymore.”
Pumpkin chuckled.
“That’s much better,” said Carrot. “I want to see a smile in the face of my little girl.”
The young filly wiped her tears.
“I’m sorry, dad,” she said.
“And I forgive you, my sweetness. But I think I’m not the one you should apologize to.”
A yellow hoof knocked on the door. Soon enough, it opened and a pegasus of a different yellow greeted the visitors:
“Good afternoon, Mr. Cake,” Fluttershy looked down. Next to the stallion, a little filly was bouncing, impatient. “Hi there, Pumpkin Cake!”
“Hi, auntie Flutt-t-rshy!”
Five days had passed since they had left the injured firefly in the pegasus’ cottage. Each one of those five days, little Pumpkin had convinced her father to go visit Fluttershy at least once, if only to ask how the recovery of the patient was going.
“Sorry to bother you again,” apologized Mr. Cake.
“Oh, it’s not a problem,” said Fluttershy. “I’m glad to know there are ponies who care about the littlest of all little critters. Actually, I was about to go see you right now. I have wonderful news, our insect friend is fully recovered!”
Pumpkin’s eyes opened wide, sparkling like stars.
“Really?” she asked. “Is Mr. Firefly ok? Can he fly? Can he shine?”
“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Fluttershy turned to talk at her mane. “Come out, little one. Your friend has come to see you!”
At the moment, a flying dot came from behind the pink hair and flew in circles above Pumpkin head. The firefly shone briefly, as if thanking the filly for her help. Then, the insect hid in Pumpkin’s mane.
“It tickles!” she giggled.
“He is very grateful,” explained Fluttershy. “I think he likes you very much!”
“What should we do with it... him?” asked Carrot. “Do you think a firefly would be a good pet for a filly?”
“Mmmh...” Fluttershy scratched her chin. “I don’t see why not... But I don’t think this particular firefly is made to be a pet. He’s still a wild one, and eventually he would want to return to his friends.”
“And where can we find them?”
“Oh, that’s easy. Fireflies always gather at sunset on the shores of the river.”
Before Carrot could say a word more, Pumpkin started pulling his arm.
“Can we go, papa?” she asked, excited. “Can we go to the river? I wanna meet Mr. Firefly’s friends!”
Carrot sighed and rolled his eyes, but he smiled anyway.
‘Just this time,’ he repeated to himself. ‘Just this time. Come on man, look how happy she is.’
So, they bid farewell to Fluttershy and walked to the outskirts of the town, at the shores of the river. It was a really nice place. The sound of the water was very relaxing, the grass was soft and there were some butterflies dancing among the flowers. Carrot had never noticed the existence of such a beautiful spot so close to his house.
Father and daughter sat in the grass as the sun started to go down, and they waited.
And waited...
And waited...
And waited...
And waited... but the brightness and hope in Pumpkin’s eyes never faded away. She kept smiling, contemplating the river and talking to the firefly in her mane, reassuring him that his friends would come and he would reunite with them. Carrot was amazed by that. He had never seen such willpower in a filly of that age, such hope for the future. For a moment he found it hard to believe that that kid, who was willing to sit in the grass during a whole afternoon and maybe beyond to help a little insect, could’ve come from him. He didn’t consider himself a special stallion, but he had no doubt that Pumpkin was a special filly.
He was proud of her.
“Look, papa!” she said, pointing into the distance with a hoof.
Near the river, two tiny lights appeared in the air, as the sky got darker. Those two lights were followed by another two, and then by another three. Slowly, a spectacle of lights displayed in the shore, re-tuning the whole scenario into a picture that seemed right out of a fairy tale.
The insect flew out of Pumpkin’s mane, turned on his own light and reunited with his brothers and sisters.
“Look, papa!” she repeated, as the lightning bugs started the night dance. Memories of a dark night from a time before returned to the mind of the filly.. This time, however, there wasn’t any window between she and the fireflies. “It’s so pretty!”
“Yes, honey,” smiled Carrot. “It’s very beautiful.”
Then, something unexpected happened: a few of the fireflies detached from the night dance and approached Pumpkin, doing gentle spiral movements in the air. One of them was her friend.
“Well, look at this,” said Carrot. “I think they want you to dance with them.”
Pumpkin stepped back, unsure.
“What’s wrong, sweetie? Don’t you want to dance with the fireflies?”
“Yes... but I’m a bit scared.”
Carrot nuzzled her.
“Don’t worry, my dear Pumpkin,” he said. “There’s no need to be afraid, because papa is going to watch over you from here. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
He smiled tenderly to his daughter, and Pumpkin found that, indeed, there was no reason to be afraid. Not as long as her father, owner of that gentle smile and those gentle eyes, was with her.
Pumpkin stepped forward, and the fireflies danced in circles around her. She smiled, and took another step. Slowly, she approached the night dance, where she was received by all the lights. They surrounded her, they hugged her and they moved with her in the incoming night, their bright lights keeping the darkness away.
Carrot watched his daughter as she danced with the fireflies, and he understood, again, how special she was.
He was proud of her.
Pumpkin felt nervous as they approached the shore of the river, the spot where she had danced with the fireflies for the first time a long time before, that place which had become her favourite but that she, in her stubbornness, hadn’t visited in weeks.
The sun had almost set, now just a golden line of light in the horizon. Soon the night would replace the day, and yet there was no sign of the insects.
Pumpkin looked up at her father one more time, searching for a bit more of strength, of courage to do the right thing, of that willpower that she once had as a filly and that had amazed him.
Carrot looked down at her, smiling. Silently, with those eyes filled with love only a father has, he reassured his daughter that everything was going to be ok. He gave her the strength she needed.
Pumpkin stepped forward, head bowed and ears down, into the territory of the fireflies, even though it was devoid of light and sound. The little living beacons were nowhere to be seen, no matter how much the filly looked among the grass.
“H- hello...” she said, in a timid voice, talking to whoever wanted to hear her. “It’s... It’s me...”
No fireflies came out. Pumpkin looked back at Carrot, unsure. The stallion just smiled tenderly and encouraged her to continue.
“I...” Pumpkin gulped. “I just wanted to say to you that I’m sorry. I’m sorry I abandoned you, I’m sorry I tried to forget you. I... misunderstood some things and thought that I should never dance with you anymore.”
She waited for a response, but she only found silence.
“So, I apologize now,” she continued. “My daddy showed me how wrong I was. I was lost, but he helped me find my way again and I want to dance with you again.”
She raised her head and waited again, hopeful.
Silence.
The sun had completely hid under the horizon, and the first stars appeared in the darkened sky, but no fireflies shone in the darkness.
“I see,” said Pumpkin, sad. “I understand. It’s ok if you don’t want to forgive me,” her eyes filled with tears. “Thank you. Thank you for all the dances, for all the happiness you gave me. Goodbye.”
She turned back and walked next to her dad, slowly. Carrot put a hoof on her shoulder, trying to ease the pain.
“I think we should go home...” she muttered.
“I guess so,” sighed the stallion. “I’m sorry, sweetie.”
He hugged his daughter and looked at the deserted shore, seemingly lifeless and dark, not at all like the one he remembered from one of his most precious memories. He shared the pain of his little girl, the pain of that defeat. He had tried to set things right, Celestia knew he had tried, but he couldn’t do anything more.
‘Please,’ he thought. ‘Please, don’t leave her like this. She needs you.’
He was about to say his pleas out loud, as a last desperate resort, when a tiny movement among the grass attracted his attention.
A movement, and a little flash.
“Look, Pumpkin!”
The filly turned her head. Her ears rose in surprise and she gasped, as a smile started to appear on her lips.
A firefly had come out from the darkness.
And another one.
And another.
And one more.
Soon, one by one, the entire court of insects rose from the grass and started their night dance, as they had done that other time.
Pumpkin stepped forward, almost bouncing in excitement. However, as she approached, the fireflies flew away from her. She stopped, and the worrying appeared in her face once more.
There was silence. Pumpkin stood there, without moving an inch and not daring to look directly at her friends. The fireflies hovered in the air, staring down at her.
Then, one of the fireflies descended and landed on her muzzle. Pumpkin squinted and she smiled, because she recognized the once wounded bug she had found in the garden one day.
And he was forgiving her.
Immediately, all the other fireflies surrounded the filly, embracing her in their light. Pumpkin’s smile grew wider and, for the first time in weeks, she spoke with true joy in her voice:
“I missed you so much!” she extended her arms and hugged the cloud of fireflies. “I’m so sorry! I promise I won’t do it again!”
Carrot sighed in relief. The laugh of his daughter, so pure and full of life, was a blessing for his ears. After such a day, after fearing that he would not be able to help her, after dealing with all the tears and sadness and that horrible invisible wall; that sincere laughter eased his heart and his soul.
He was so relaxed, that he almost fell when Pumpkin embraced him without warning.
“Thank you, daddy!” she said. “Thank you! You’re the greatest dad in the world!”
“Aw, come on, sweetie... You’re going to make me blush! I’m not that great...”
“Yes, you are! You are the best dad I could’ve asked for!”
Carrot giggled and kissed her on the forehead.
“I don’t know about that,” he said, “but I know for sure that you’re the best daughter I could’ve asked for. Now go play with your friends, sugar pie. I’ll sit over here and watch you, just like when you were little.”
Pumpkin nodded and gave him a smile. It was a smile Carrot hadn’t seen in weeks, the same smile which had brightened up her days ever since he had seen it in the little face of a newborn unicorn, in a crib, in an hospital.
With a faint blush and a soft hug, the filly trotted towards the night dance, but she stopped in the way and looked back at her father.
“Dad... What if the fireflies don’t give me my cutie mark?”
Carrot sat on the grass.
"What will you do?” he asked.
Pumpkin thought about it for a moment. Then, she said:
“I don’t know, but I’m sure that I’ll still love the fireflies, no matter what.”
Carrot smiled.
“And I’ll still love you,” he said. “Don’t worry. If we don’t find your cutie mark here, we’ll keep searching.”
Pumpkin smiled back to her father, and then she joined the fireflies in the night dance. Carrot looked at her, and once again she realized how special she was, and how proud he was of her.
Because she was Pumpkin Cake.
Because she was his daughter.
Because she was the only pony he knew that could dance with the lightning bugs.
THE END
Author's Note
This is my longest oneshot so far. More than 7000 words 
I don't usually write this much, but I guess I was lucky and I had a lot of inspiration for this story. I hope you liked it.
Can you believe that I didn't write this thinking of Father's Day? I didn't even realize it was Father's Day until it was over, and by then the story was only half completed. This has been a pretty nice coincidence.
Anyway, even if it comes a bit late: happy Father's Day, everyone 
