The Bubbly Mare

3, 4
"Like Solitude"

Derpy was up high, looking down on Sweet Apple Acres. This was her first time being above so high and her first time doing it alone. She wasn't flying, but she felt just as nice as other pegasus must've felt when they took flight and were able to look down on their favorite parts of Equestria.

The tree house was always there, just old and filled with cracked boards. It took time to repair and "make it safe", as Derpy had once heard Mommy say to Granny Smith. All it took was three days of work for Big Mac and Applejack, a few planks of wood and new nails. That was enough. It just took time... which it seemed like there was plenty, but for some reason Big Mac was always busy and Granny Smith wanted the two to work together "just in case something happens". This was special, though, and even though he was probably busy like all the other days, he took time to help make it perfect. After that the young stallion went back to harvesting his apples, and all he said to her many thank-yous, after going up high for the first time this morning, was "ee-yup". Derpy couldn't say why, but she was okay with this.

Months had gone by since the little pegasus had started doing chores. The weather started to become warm again, and that drew all three ponies outside to enjoy it. Derpy still helped sometimes with Applejack's chores, but she was happy to let Applejack do all her stuff while she did her own on other days. She didn't realize what had changed, but something had. With responsibility, it just made sense to give other ponies their space to take care of their own stuff, just like with Big Mac. What was neat was how Derpy could make everything go away for a little while -- Amethyst, Mommy, Dinky, even Granny Smith; put into a little box. Doing chores was a break from it all where she was still doing stuff while in her own little quiet space, and that felt pretty good.

Derpy looked down again at Applejack and Big Mac doing their chores, knowing soon that her favorite farm filly would be ready for fun. For right then, though... at that moment Derpy felt like she had somewhere to be, but was okay with waiting, and watching up high. It was nice.

* * *

It was a few months earlier and Derpy had noticed Mommy starting to look fat. It was kind of funny, but Derpy was happy to wrap her forelegs around her big tummy each night before they went to sleep. Sometimes she felt pressure inside Mommy's tummy, even when they were both still. Mommy always said "that's natural, Sweetie," which confused Derpy... but Mommy had said it, so it had to be true for grown-ups her age that are fat. It just made sense.

Amethyst started spending a lot more time with Dinky. Sometimes she'd even have a sleepover on the couch with Dinky asleep in the playpen, just a few hoof steps away. That made Derpy happy, because it meant more time alone with Mommy without Dinky crying. Dinky was always quiet with Amethyst, so it was like Derpy and Mommy were alone again every night.

Mommy didn't always want to hug, though... especially in the morning. She'd run away to the bathroom sometimes, then come back a little while later and tell Derpy it was time to change and get up. Derpy always felt disappointed after that, and sometimes she heard sounds coming from the bathroom like Mommy might've had a bug... Mommy coughed and sounded once like she was throwing up, but Mommy never said she was sick and she had also said firmly "you won't catch it" when Derpy pulled away when talking about it the night after making all those funny noises in the bathroom. Derpy just started to think that she maybe just didn't understand what was going on.

After school each day Derpy did the dishes. There were always only a couple, but Mommy and Amethyst said she was being a big help. She also swept the kitchen floor, though only after dinner... Amethyst would say she "could be in the way" if she did it in the afternoon or earlier on the weekends. It was funny, because even when the kitchen was empty, that's what she said. That, and "wait until everything winds down. It won't always stay empty, 'kay?" Instead, when it wasn't raining or really cold out, Derpy swept the stepping stones every Friday before the sun went down. Sometimes Amethyst would be out mowing the grass, doing chores alongside her, with Dinky and Granny Smith inside, playing neat games with a string Derpy never could understand how to do. It was fun, though, and afterwards she'd spend time in her swing as the lights from town started to shine and Mommy came home.

One Saturday afternoon, in the dark as the power had gone out, when Applejack was off with family, and freezing rain was pouring down, and they had finished all of Derpy's homework assignments (which Derpy had to admit she would not have done yet if it wasn't for Amethyst's help)... Amethyst came to Derpy.

"I've got an idea, kid," said the young mare, with a grin, "and I think you might like it."

Derpy got up from her relaxed position. She almost never got bored, but this... this didn't sound as boring as what she had been doing, which was waiting for the storm to go away.

"Um... what's going on?" Derpy asked, stretching.

"Come on," Amethyst said, with a wave of her hoof. "Down the hall, to your room..."

Derpy did as she was told, cantering into her room with Amethyst.

"Your mom might kill me for this, but look around... don't go poking through your mom's things, but-" she picked up Derpy's old teddy bear from under the bed, brushing off the dust. "Pick up stuff. Make it look nice. You don't want your mommy stepping on one of your toys, falling and breaking something, right?"

Derpy shook her head.

"Nope."

"Then ya gotta clean things up a bit. It's a way of bein' nice and showing her how much ya lov-... err, how much you wanna help her out. Okay?"

Derpy rubbed her eyes, still adjusting to the dark. In the momentary silence Amethyst drew back the shades on the window and suddenly the purple room was bathed in dark grey. At least Derpy could see better in this.

"Okee," she said, finally.

"I'll be back in three-quarters of an hour," Amethyst responded as she moved towards the door, smiling. The darker striations of light on her face made her look sad, even though Derpy could tell from her voice she wasn't. "You need anything I'll be down the hall, feeding Dinky lunch, then making some grub for dinner."

With that Amethyst left, and the little pegasus quickly lost track of time. Even when she got older she never was any good with it, but that didn't bother her.

Picking up started with what Derpy knew was hers -- a few toys... a block here, a plastic figure and coloring book there. They ended up on top of the dresser, blocks and books in nice separate stacks, the others just kind of looking nice up there. Soon Derpy found herself straightening the night stand, while picking things up, pushing in bureau drawers that were slightly askew and seeing the dust everywhere when up close. She walked out and down the hall, just for a second, coming back with some toilet paper. Not the best thing to clean with, she'd later find out, but it made all the dust and film go away. Especially with spit. She picked up a few of Mommy's books from the bed and stood them up on the nightstand from big to small, leaving the one out from the pile she thought Mommy was reading. Beside them she stacked a few small plastic packages with different colored rubber circles inside of them, she found on the bottom of Mommy's side of the bed. It didn't take very long for Derpy to have everything picked up, but then she found herself wiping the headboard, windows and window sill clean, only to get a few more pieces of toilet paper. She couldn't get up very high for the door frame or windowsill, but it still looked better... by the end she was polishing the inside and outside door knobs.

"What'cha doin' there?" Amethyst asked from across the hall as she watched Derpy work a piece of toilet paper around and around.

"Making things look nice," Derpy replied, quietly.

"What's that? Couldn't hear ya." The filly heard Amethyst approach. "Polishing things is not quite what I had in mind, kid..." She looked into the room. "Woah."

Derpy stopped, looking up at the babysitter.

"Um... you're not mad, are you?"

Amethyst looked down at her.

"Get up," she said, plainly. Derpy did as she was told. "Turn around, and see what you did. Look at how different the room looks now."

Derpy turned to look.

She looked around the room, slowly... she could remember putting everything where she had, she just couldn't remember where it was before.

The filly took a sudden interest in her hooves. All was silent for a moment.

"Hey, hey!" Amethyst said, sharply. "Look at me! Up here." Derpy looked up and saw Amethyst's face. She wasn't sure what was going to happen, but even in the gray she saw Amethyst was smiling. "All those little things you moved around in here made a big difference. It looks great! I'm proud-a you, kid. I was wrong bein' too quick to judge."

Derpy blinked twice.

"Really?"

Amethyst nodded.

"Really. You got everything stacked up neat, your blocks are outta the way and together by size and shape. No pony's gunna trip on anything now that you've got- ooof!"

Then and there Derpy did something that felt quite natural to her. She hugged the teenage unicorn.

"Woah, hey, hey!" Derpy looked up. "Um, wow... guess I didn't expect that. Um, thanks. You're a good kid, Derpy."

Amethyst ruffled the filly's mane before pulling away.

"Well, I gotta get back... Think ya earned yourself a couple brown sugar muffins for dessert." She turned towards the door, walking out of the room, but peeked in one final time. "If you decide to play with your old toys today, just put 'em back up about where they are. Whatever looks best. Okay?"

"Okee."

Amethyst smiled before again disappearing.

After that the afternoon progressed mostly as normal... mostly. Derpy played with her blocks a bit before it finally stopped raining, just as it was getting dark. She put them right back up in about the same place before going outside to spend a little time on her swing before dinner. The lights from the surrounding Ponyville and all the stars coming out from the clouds always helped keep Derpy from getting scared. That and Mommy would be home soon... though tonight she was at work later than usual. When Amethyst finally did call dinner Derpy still looked out for a few to the left down the road to see if Mommy was coming yet. Not yet.

* * *

When Mommy came home later that night, dinner was all eaten and Amethyst didn't tell her anything about what had happened early in the afternoon. She whispered to Derpy "just keep quiet, and it'll be appreciated even more. Promise." Derpy trusted Amethyst and did just that. When Mommy went into the bedroom, she came right out afterwards into the living room where everypony sat. Derpy looked at Amethyst, who just smiled.

"Did you straighten up my room?" Mommy asked Amethyst directly. "I appreciate it, just... ask before, okay?"

Amethyst smiled.

"Will do, Diamond. Just this time... it was Derpy," said Amethyst, putting a hoof to the little filly's chest, making her nervous. "Sent her on a lil mission earlier. If you're mad we can talk about it... Derpy had nothing to do with my idea, I just noticed she looked a lil under-stimulated and thought ' why not?'."

Instead of answering, Mommy looked over at Derpy, then walked up to the her side of the couch. Sighting, she sat beside the filly, sandwiching her tight between herself and Amethyst. Derpy pulled away a little bit as Amethyst angled herself inwards, giving the filly a little more room... only for Mommy to respond by unexpectedly hugging Derpy.

"Good job," she said, quietly. "Just don't put anything away that isn't yours, okay? ... it's organized chaos in there, and I really need it that way."

Derpy looked up at Mommy, hugging her back.

"Okay Mommy."

Mommy then looked up at Amethyst, and so did Derpy, as she let go.

"I'm not mad, Amethyst, because I know my daughter... and I know you. I was worried you might've thrown something out, but... you did what you thought was right for me and Derpy, and it helped. Now I'm left with two wonderful daughters to come home to, good friends and apparently a great babysitter to contend with. Imagine that... I just wish I could pay you more."

"Don't worry about it," said Amethyst, with a grin. "Helping you and your two 'wonderful daughters' as you put it has been great, and helped me better understand my passion in life. That's worth more bits than I'll make in years. Trust me, Diamond."

Derpy felt Mommy's eyes on her again. She was wrapped up once more, even tighter.

"Derpy, the littlest things can help so much, kiddo. It was very nice to come home to find that."

"Dinner's still warm, too," Amethyst said. "And you can eat it with Derpy, while she enjoys a couple muffins I made in a small batch just for the occasion." Amethyst got up and reached in to the playpen to grab Dinky. "Hope you don't mind me telling Derpy something before I give Dinky her nighttime bottle."

Derpy looked up at Mommy.

"What's that?" Mommy asked.

Amethyst chuckled.

"Kid," she said, focusing on Derpy. "How to I say this? I've kinda had this on my mind for a while. I know certain stuff is... let's just say harder for you than it is for most ponies your age. That's just kinda how it is, and it might not ever change, but I want you to know that we all love you, and we're watching you grow each and every day, to be so amazed to see it happening. Love of ponies that care about you is all you're ever really gunna need in life. Ya just gotta find 'em." She looked up at Mommy and smiled. "I've got more, if that's okay... it just involves you."

"Please, Amethyst," Mommy said. "I would love to hear it. I'll tell you if you're wrong, though."

"Derpy... The more you do for your mom, the less stressed she's going to be when she gets home. I don't know much about being an adult yet, even though I might look a lot like one to you, but almost every day I'm here helpin' out, I get a fraction of the stress your mom would feel if I wasn't here. The less stressed she gets, Derpy... well, the more energy she's gunna have to spend with you and Dinky, and to help you make new friends and keep you... well, happy down the road. It's a good thing to help out as it gives her more chances to show you how much she loves you. You and me both know she does, more than I can possibly express here. You know it in your heart more than anything."

Derpy found herself looking up at Mommy, noticing she was smiling... her bottom lip quivering in a funny way.

"While a little intense, I appreciate that, Amethyst," Mommy said, looking down at her gray filly. "I really wish I had more time, Derpy... but we live in a place where we can be happy, because we have each other and I'll always have some time to come home and give to you. That means more to me than anything in all of Equestria... even more than the Princess."

"Don't say that too loudly now, Diamond," Amethyst said, chuckling. "Though I'm sure she'd understand."

"Probably," Mommy said, grinning and rubbing her eyes. "Now, how 'bout we all eat?"

"Okee," Derpy said, feeling Mommy start to gently direct her off the couch.

They would soon eat. Derpy and Mommy would spend time together at the table, even though she came home a bit later than expected. That started... happening sometimes. Derpy didn't like it, but she understood it was part of being a grown-up.

Because it was the weekend, though, after dinner Mommy passed Derpy the dishes and she washed them before bed. Together the two didn't have to say anything... Derpy was fine with being quiet and showing her mommy how good she was getting at the dishes. Mommy stayed back, leaning on the counter, watching, and soon enough they were done.

Once a week after that Derpy had a "mission" that Amethyst would send her on. It was always fun. The only places Derpy wasn't allowed to have her missions yet were the laundry room and the kitchen... "too many dangerous things in there," Mommy said. But that would change in time as she grew.