Candle Light smiled to herself as she lit up her horn to teleport back to her home. She felt like she was making good, slow progress with her eldest daughter. It might not be terribly soon, but she had a feeling that, before too long, Night Watcher would come around. She also had a feeling that once she did, her wife and the rest of her kids would follow quickly behind her. Then they’d all be here, and…
And it’ll all work out, she thought to herself. Her wife would understand if she didn’t change back into a stallion, and wanted to continue being close to Rising Ranks. Or maybe she’d just be with her wife once she showed up, since she would see her every day again. Or maybe both of them?
She didn’t exactly know how something like that would work, but Candle Light didn’t fuss about it. Her wife was humoring her right now, which was a good sign. Besides, everything else was perfect so far. Why wouldn’t things continue being perfect then? She danced in excitement when she reappeared in her living room, enjoying the idea of it.
She reappeared at the right time, because a second later, her youngest daughter was calling out in excitement from the couch and running up to hug her tightly.
“Hi, Daddy!” Warm Spell cheered. “I finally get to see you again!”
“Yes, you do,” the unicorn giggled, hugging her daughter back happily. “I thought your sister said you were having a sleepover with one of your school friends,” she said. “Did you bring your PonyPad with you? Are you making sure to spend time with your friends?”
“I was with them, but then I left!” she explained, a wide grin on her face. Candle Light blinked at her, and tilted her head in confusion.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I told Princess Celestia I wanted to live with you,” Warm Spell told her, “and she said I could! And so me and my friend and her sister all went to where Princess Celestia told us, and now we’re here! And I get to hug you again, Daddy!”
Oh no.
“Sweetie,” she started carefully, “did you tell—”
She was cut off by screaming, the angry voice coming without warning. If Candle Light had longer than five seconds to process what was going on, she would’ve expected the androgynous looking bat pony to show up again and scream at her. Instead, she jumped in surprise at the sudden, loud voice. Then, Candle Light gasped at the hateful look her daughter sent her way. It was unlike anything the mare had ever seen.
She had no opportunity to even ask what was going on before Night Watcher started to lay into her.
“This is your fault!” the bat pony spat angrily at her. She bared her teeth as she yelled, showing off fangs Candle Light hadn’t noticed before. It was only half as intimidating as the look she continued to throw at her. Night Watcher’s eyes hit the unicorn like daggers. Candle Light hadn’t ever been afraid of her children, but she had to admit, she was nervous now. She took a step back.
The bat pony stalked closer and crouched low, like a cat waiting to pounce. “You were the one who was talking all about how everyone should upload, and now she's dead because of you! This is all your fucking fault!”
“Honey, I don’t—”
“I’m not your honey!” she screamed, somehow even more angry. “You’re not my father! You’re just a sick joke of a copy pretending to be him! I wouldn’t care if I never heard from you again after what you did!”
Candle Light had no response except to stare back at the pony in wide eyed shock. Her expression was hateful, and powerful enough to make the mare take another step back from her. She could practically feel the emotion in the air radiating off of her. Was that Candle Light’s hooves shaking? They must have been, because the unicorn was downright frightened by what she saw of Night Watcher. Daphne had never been one to yell, and now she’d completely gone off.
The bat pony glared only for a second. Candle Light watched her walk over to the nearest wall to press the picture of Celestia’s cutie mark. A second later, she was swept away in a flash of light, leaving the house empty and quiet again. She barely registered that Warm Spell was still beside her.
What was that?
“Spelly,” Candle Light finally asked, her voice barely a whisper. “What did you do?” She didn’t even turn her head to glance at the filly. She only blinked ahead at the now empty space, her whole body shaking as the last thirty seconds played in her head. What was all of that? Everything had been absolutely perfect up, until less than a minute ago.
Candle Light barely registered that her daughter was hugging her tight and burying her face into her coat. She carefully pulled Warm Spell closer as the filly sniffled.
“Please don’t cry, Daddy. I just wanted to live with you again. I don’t want you to be mad at me.”
Was she crying? Candle Light didn’t even notice, but rubbed her eyes to find wetness on her cheeks and face. She closed her eyes for a moment, and took a long breath. Then she did her best to put on a brave face and smile. She was barely able to muster one up.
“I’m not mad at you, sweetheart,” she said carefully, her voice cracking as Warm Spell looked up at her hopefully. Her heart was racing, and her breaths came out fast. The mare ignored those things though as she touched the filly’s nose gently, and continued, “I’m glad I finally get to hug you again.”
“I’m glad about that, too!”
“Mhm,” she nodded. Then, she exhaled, and her smile dropped. “But you should have told somepony. You can’t just–”
Candle Light was cut off once again by her family appearing in front of her. It was the rest of them this time, both of her children and her wife staring in wide eyed shock at Warm Spell. She couldn’t blame them, but did flinch at their sudden appearance. She wouldn’t be able to take it if they yelled at her, too. How was it that everything seemed to be spiraling in just a couple of minutes?
Her family didn’t yell. They didn’t even seem to be angry. Only surprised, and sad. Crystal Clear was crying, and Candle Light’s own tears started again because of it. She knew they would hate her now because of this.
“Olivia, what were you thinking?” the earth pony mare asked shakily, the exasperation in her voice mixing with the crying she was doing. “Why would you go and do something like this without talking to us first? I told you before we would think about it soon!”
“I’m sorry, Mom,” the filly squeaked out fearfully. “I didn’t mean to make everyone mad… I just wanted to see Dad again.”
“I understand that, but you shouldn’t have… done something like this!” Candle Light watched Crystal Clear close her eyes and weep, her body shivering. The unicorn pulled the filly in close again and held her.
She wanted to explain that it’d all be better if they all lived in Equestria with her. Then everyone would see her all the time and there’d be no issues anymore. They were the ones who originally signed her up to go to Equestria in the first place, after all. Somehow though, she knew bringing that up right now would only make things worse.
Her two other kids stayed silent, both Silver Light and Sweeping Skies shuffling around awkwardly on their hooves. They had pained expressions on their faces, and useless looks that said there was nothing good they could say. There was nothing good Candle Light could say either.
“I just…” Crystal Clear rubbed her eyes and then looked up to Candle Light. “Take care of her, please?” she asked. “Did you know that this was gonna happen?”
“I didn’t.” The unicorn spoke in a whisper, her heart still beating fairly quickly from how Night Watcher screamed at her. She was going to hate her if she thought this was because of her. She did want Warm Spell to come here– she wanted all of them here– but…
“I haven’t brought it up in a long time because Nighty told me not to… and now… I think she hates me…” Her voice quivered, and a second later, she was crying all over again. She fell back onto the couch and put her head in her hooves. How had this all gone from perfect to messed up in just a few minutes?
Warm Spell sat beside her and hugged her, and a second later, Crystal Clear was there, too, on the other side of her. Her other two kids left shortly after that, but before she could wonder about whether they would now hate her, too, the earth pony carefully petted her back. A look in her eyes showed that she was still as tearful as Candle Light was.
“You promise this is all real?” she asked, barely audible. It was a question that got Candle’s attention.
“Yeah?” she sniffled, then shook her mane out of her eyes. “Of course.”
Crystal Clear nodded, but didn’t say anything. The room was silent for a long moment as the unicorn sat between her wife and her daughter. Finally, her wife said, “Take care of her, okay?”
“I will,” Candle Light nodded. “You take care of them, too… I hope they don’t blame me and hate me…”
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Warm Spell whispered softly. Candle Light carefully touched the filly’s nose again.
“You don’t need to be sorry, sweetie,” her voice cracked. “I just…”
“I’ll… talk to them…” Crystal Clear told her, sounding a bit unsure. “I don’t know what I can say though. I… this is all… but I’ll try,” she finished.
“Thank you, and please be safe,” Candle Light said gratefully, finally rubbing her eyes dry again. “It’d probably be good to talk later wouldn’t it?” she suggested. Crystal Clear gave a small nod.
Candle Light swallowed, blinked a few times, then looked up at her wife and said, “I love you.”
Crystal Clear didn’t say it back. Instead, she offered a sad smile, then turned away. A second later, the pony stood up to head out the door. Candle Light winced, her tears threatening to leak out again. Why was everything falling apart like this? How long ago was it that she was thinking about how perfect everything was? Hours?
No, it was less than ten minutes ago. In only a few minutes, the whole world had exploded and fell apart, right before her eyes. This was why she wanted them here as soon as possible. If they were already here, the perfection would continue. A few minutes ago, her biggest concern was what her wife would think about her staying a mare. Now her biggest concern was about what her wife thought about her in general.
And Night Watcher. Night Watcher was going to hate her.
She wished her family understood that any problems they thought they had would vanish the second they stepped foot into Equestria. Once they showed up, there would be no more issues. It was starting to feel like an if right about now.
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Warm Spell suddenly spoke up from beside her, still hugging her. She had slight fear in her eyes, and concern. She could imagine what her youngest daughter was thinking, what with the whole scene that had played out before her.
“Please don’t be mad at me,” she said, practically begging. “I just wanted to see you again…”
Candle Light held the filly close and tight, then closed her eyes and settled her daughter into her side.
“I’m not mad, Spelly,” she assured her as she pet her mane carefully. “I could never be mad at you, sweetheart. I’m glad you’re here.”