She stood in front of the kitchen mirror, adjusting her mailmare uniform. Perhaps it wasn't normal to have a large mirror in the kitchen, but she wasn't a normal mare; and despite the troubles it had caused her throughout her life, Derpy Hooves was proud of that fact. She checked her watch- still fifteen minutes before she had to leave for work.
“Mommy?”
“Yes, Muffin?”
“What does it feel like to fly?”
Derpy frowned, “Honey, I fly with you all the time!” She said, flapping her wings a little bit. “Why, do you want to go flying right now? Mommy's in a bit of a hurry to get to work, but she can spare a few minutes for-”
Dinky shook her head, “No thank you, Mommy. But… I mean, for a pegasus.”
“For a pegasus? Oh! You mean, what does it feel like to fly for a pegasus?” Derpy realized.
“Uh-huh!”
“Hmm… “ She thought for a moment, before smiling and saying, “Well, when the wind blows through your mane and tail, it… mmm, no, that's not right. Okay, when you bite into an apple it… it… ponyfeathers,” Derpy frowned, sitting at the table with her little filly.
Dinky, being the good foal she was, sat there and waited for Derpy to collect her thoughts, because she'd come to know it would be a little while, which was okay. She quietly ate her haycakes, occasionally focusing for a few seconds and levitating her glass of milk to her mouth for a drink.
Derpy, still thinking, noticed her daughter's magic. “Good job, Dinky!” She smiled, proud of her Muffin.
“Thank you, Mommy! I've been prat-... p-pra-... prac-ti-cing it,” Dinky replied, blushing slightly.
“Does Ms. Cheerilee know? Has she noticed?”
“Yeah! She says I'm one of the most magically powerful fillies she teaches!” Dinky chirped.
Derpy flapped her wings again but that time in excitement. Leaning over, she drew her little one into a tight, loving hug. “Oh, Muffin… Mommy's so proud of you!” She said, happily smooching Dinky’s face over and over.
Embarrassed a little by the hug and kisses- but also secretly happy for them, as always- Dinky blushed under her mother's affections, nuzzling her cheek back against Derpy’s.
“You know what, Dinky?” Derpy finally started, when she pulled back.
“Yeah?”
“I think this calls for a celebration! You and I are gonna go to Ms. Fluttershy's cottage tomorrow, and take a look at kittens! I think you've proven to be a responsible young filly… or should I say responsible little mare?” Derpy teased, hugging Dinky tightly for a few seconds more.
“R-really, Mommy?” Dinky gasped.
Derpy nodded, her grin wide.
“Yaaaaay!” Dinky cried, jumping out of her seat and prancing around the table, joy overtaking her senses as she jumped and danced. This all made Derpy break out in a fit of giggles, unable to withstand the overwhelmingly cute sight.
Soon enough, though, Dinky got back in her seat, and started eating again- not even noticing that now she was using the utensils with her magic, instead of manually, as she had been doing just a little earlier.
Derpy smiled at her for a few more moments, before blinking and tilting her head, really noticing the impressive- for a foal- display of magic. She stared down at her daughter for a little while, eyes- eye?- studying the magenta glow Dinky’s horn produced, and-
“Mommy?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you okay?”
Derpy hummed for a moment, “Yes, I'm okay. Just thinking about your question.”
“Oh! The one about pegasuses?”
“Pegasi.”
“Oh. Sorry, Mommy.”
Derpy smiled again. “It's fine, Muffin. I do that sometimes too, just for fun.”
Dinky let out a small giggle at the thought of it, before going back to her meal.
“Dinky?”
“Yes Mommy?”
“What's it like for you… when you use your magic?” Derpy asked.
“Oh! Hmm… it's really hard to describe…” Dinky frowned, setting her fork and knife down.
“Just tell me… the first time you consciously used it, what it felt like.”
“C-cooon-chus-lee?”
“The first time you used it on purpose, when you knew what you were doing, Muffin.”
“Oh! But… you were there, Mommy!”
“I know, Dinky. Just please tell Mommy, okay?”
“Okay. So, the first time I used my magic was-”
“Muffin?”
“Yes?”
“Tell Mommy what was happening before you used it, okay? And why?”
“But-” Dinky started.
“Please, Dinky? Just do Mommy this one favor, okay?”
“Alright, Mommy. Um… it was a few years ago, right?”
“Yes, it was. Keep going, honey,” Derpy gently urged.
“Well… I was more little than I am now. I was tiny! You used to pick me up and float around the house with me, but you can't anymore because I'm big and I broke the wall that one time. But, um, the first time I used my magic… lemme think…”
“Take all the time you need, Dinky,” Derpy nodded, lightly rubbing her back.
“It was that one time you picked me up while you had some ice cream in the other hand. You dropped it, and since you aren't the fastest flyer, you knew you couldn't catch it, so you let it drop ‘cuz we were still going up. But I saw how sad it made you, and it was your favorite ice cream flavor- blueberry- so I scrunched up my face and I wiggled my fingers at it and concentrated my brain and I caught it in my magic! And then I floated it back up to you and you gasped and hugged me really tight, but then I was so tired i fell asleep,” Dinky finished, looking back at Derpy. “That's what happened, right Mommy?”
“Yes, Muffin. Just one more thing, okay?”
“Okay.”
“When you use your magic, what do you do to make it work? How does it feel? ” Derpy softly asked.
Dinky blinked a few times, before looking at the fridge, where a little crayon picture sits, attached by a magnet. “Well… that first time, I thought about making you happy. I thought that if I caught your ice cream and brought it back, you'd be really happy and maybe smile at me, cuz I love to see you smile,” She stopped for a moment.
Derpy felt a warmth blossom in her chest, and her eyes might have been a little wet- maybe. She opened her mouth to speak, but Dinky resumed her answer of the question.
“But…” She closed her eyes and floated the picture over- shakily, and slowly, but all the way- grabbing a stray red crayon from the tabletop. “It's… tough to explain how using magic feels. Um… it makes me feel… hyper, I guess. Excited. And.. and now, whenever I think about doing something with my magic… well, I still think about you, but it's different. Instead of making you happy it's, um…” Dinky hesitated, before starting to draw a familiar shape on the picture with the red crayon, “I think about how much you love me, Mommy, a-and how proud I'm gonna make you if I get good at using my magic. And I think about all the times you call me ‘Dear’ and ‘Honey’ and ‘Muffin’, cuz I know that's how you tell me you love me without saying it out loud…” The red shape covers most of the picture, now, “And… when I'm really, really trying to do something super tough with my magic, like float my backpack or make a flower, I think as hard as I can about all the times you hug me and kiss me and tuck me in at night, and when you tell me bedtime stories, and when you pick me up from school then fly me home, and all the times you make me happy when I'm sad or fix me up when I get hurt. So… so I think really, really hard about that feeling… about how much you love me… and it helps me do all the really tough magic. Sometimes I still can't do it, but I know I'm just not thinking about you loving me hard enough, and I keep trying until I get it.” She finally finished, levitating the picture up at the same time.
It's a stick figure drawing of Dinky and Derpy flying in the sky, with a bright yellow sun, blue sky, green grass, and white clouds making up the rest. Derpy holds Dinky between her stick-legs, right up against her chest, and both figures have huge smiles on their faces. What Dinky had done during her explanation was add a huge, red heart around the two of them, with shaky handwriting spelling out beneath it, “I love you, Mommy.”
Pit. Pat. Pit-pit patter pit.
Derpy was stunned. Her mouth was wide open, and her eyes freely flowed with tears that stained her fur a darker gray and made the tablecloth wet in spots. Her mind couldn't decide whether to look at the beautiful, amazing picture, or her wonderful, perfect little filly. After a few moments, she gulped down her shakiness, and said, sobbing, “M-Muffin… when.. when I fly, I-I feel the wind stroking m-my wings, and… a-and caressing my feathers. I-I feel every change I-in the breeze, and… e-every thermal, every cold air pocket. I feel th-the sun on my mane, and m-my fur, and wh-when I close my eyes, I can still fly just as w-well as I normally do, because of m-my innate pegasus magic. And… and sometimes…” Derpy gently takes the picture from Dinky’s hand, as well as the red crayon, “Sometimes wh-when I'm really tired or s-sore, a-and I don't know if I can keep going… I-I think about a p-perfect, b-beautiful little unicorn f-filly that's waiting for me a-at school, or at home, and loves m-me more than anypony else i-in the whole w-world, wh-who is always h-happy to see me and, and makes me sandwiches I-If I get home late, a-and n-never fails to s-s-smile at me, the biggest, h-happiest smile I've ever seen that Pinkie Pie c-can’t even come close to… I-I think about m-my daughter, my M-Muffin, I think about y-you, Dinky… and when I do, I… I g-getting this burst of energy, o-of determination to finish m-my day and make it back to you, and it n-never fails, not ever, b-because I l-love you so much, my precious filly.” She finally finished, putting the crayon back down and showing Dinky the picture.
Now, under the shaky handwriting is a line of surprisingly graceful cursive, saying, “Mommy loves you too, Dinky.” The only other change was the tear splatters that had made some of the paper wet, but neither one of them cared about it.
“That's… that's what it feels like to f-fly, Dinky. A-and I'm so sorry y-you’ll never be able to feel it like I-I can. That's why I take y-you flying a-as often as I can, b-because I know you l-love it, a-and because you're the greatest f-filly a mother could ask for,” Derpy finished, sniffling as tears continued to drop down her face.
Now both of them were crying, the emotions in both being intense and profound. Dinky slowly got up from her chair, and went to sit in Derpy’s lap, tightly hugging her mother and being hugged in return.
She could feel the pitter-patter of Derpy’s tears in her hair, but she didn't care.
“D-Dinky?”
“Yes, Mommy?”
“You wanna g-go flying right now, Muffin?”
“O-okay, Mommy… how long?”
Derpy gave a sniffling laugh, “As long a-as you like.”
“But… what about your job?” Dinky asked, looking up into Derpy’s golden eyes.
“They can go a d-day without me. Besides… “ She whispered, kissing the top of Dinky’s head, “I have something far more important to me right here.”
“I love you, Mommy.”
“I love you too, Muffin.”
Author's Note
If you're going to complain about my lack of reference to Derpy's eye, screw off.
Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed.
Also, I'm looking for someone who can make the drawing I've described a reality. If you're interested, PM me. I can't give you money, but I can give you a follow and my everlasting gratitude.
Toodles.
~TOOWC
