Picking Yourself Up

Chapters

A Helping Hoof
A First Step
The Spark...
...That Lights A Fire
Seeing Clearly
A Fresh Start

A Helping Hoof

"Do you need anything else?" Apogee asked her mother, Delta Vee, as she sat in her mother's junkyard workshop on the outskirts of Las Pegasus.

"No."

The pale blue, middle-aged pegasus mare sat in front of an open compartment of an old rocket engine, an empty amber bottle of Buck Lite beer on the edge of the contraption, with the 16-year old filly four feet from her, with a blowtorch, and welder goggles on the shop floor between the pair.

"Maybe another tool?" The teenage pegasus added.

No response, as her mother continued tinkering inside the compartment.

"Some water?" She offered, no doubt working out in the desert got a pony parched fast.

No answer.

"...A hug?"

This last question brought a pause to the sounds of tinkering as Delta finally looked over at her daughter.

"Alright, drop the act kid. I can tell you're up to something." Delta asked, irritated at the interruption in her work.

"What?" Apogee asked, wondering what she was being accused of.

"You and your dad are trying really hard to get back in my life. What for?"

"I... W-We just want to help."

"Help with what?"

"Y'know, life and stuff."

"Of course," Delta spat, scoffing. "He wants to be a hero and dig me out of the hole he put me in. He's over sixteen years too late for that. I'm good without him."

"...Sixteen?" Apogee asked, starting to connect the dots.

"Yes, and why? Does he need me again?"

"No, I need you."

"With all that money your dad makes, I doubt it. I bet that lawyer mare could be your mom too." Delta mused, returning to her work.

"Why are you this way?" Apogee asked.

"Because your dad—"

"This is not all about dad, mom. Why do you hate me?"

Again, the sounds of tinkering halted, and the shop fell silent, as Delta looked down at her daughter, eyes widening at the rather direct question.

"Uh, I... I don't hate you... But, your... dad..."

Whatever words Delta was looking for didn't come as her eyes averted from her daughter's gaze.

"For Luna's sake, Apogee." She said, dropping her wrench and getting up, walking past her daughter towards the open door.

"Where are you going?"

"Just give me some space, alright?"

Apogee watched silently as her mother walked across the lot towards the decrepit trailer, going inside and shutting the door, leaving the filly alone with the engine, tools, and empty bottle. She sat there for a moment as the wind moved through the piles of junk scattered across the lot. After another few seconds of thought, she followed her mom's footsteps back across the dusty lot to the trailer, and stepped inside, softly closing the door behind her, and turned to the bedroom door.

"Mom?" She announced herself, seeing Delta laying on the bed, turned away from her.

"Dad and I gave you space before, but you never got much better. What's wrong?" Apogee asked, slowly stepping towards the bed. Her mom shifted slightly but otherwise offered no reply.

"...You know we don't want to hurt you... Right? Have I done something to you? If so, I'm sorry."

Delta Vee remained silent.

"I just want to be with you... That's all."

Apogee put one hoof up on the bed, then two, then climbed up next to her mother.

"I'll be here if you need someone to talk to... Or if you don't, that's okay too."

Delta took a deep breath, then let it out in a sigh.

"Your dad already hurt me." She muttered.

"What?" Apogee asked, sitting up.

"I know you don't want to hurt me. But he did. A long time ago, and it's not the kind of hurt that goes away, or heals. You're still too young to understand. You wouldn't get it." Delta told her daughter.

Apogee began to contemplate what her mom had just said.

"I get more than you think." Apogee said, rolling off the bed and landing on her hooves, facing the bed. "I get that you two can't stand each other, for reasons that neither of you will share. Whatever happened, you just won't get over it." She said.

"This isn't a Haykespeare story, kid. We're not like Julio and Romiette that wind up together in the end. If I get over it, he wins." Delta shot back.

"Julio and Romiette killed themselves at the end, mom. And looking around at this place, no offense, but I'd say dad's winning anyway."

Delta rolled over away from the window and leered at her daughter.

"What I mean is, we studied a poet at school today, who said living well is the best revenge. Both dad and I think you need help. If you hate him so much, if you really believe he's the reason you're here... Show him how good you can be without him. If I can't have a family under one roof, fine. I can learn to live with that. Then I'll take the next best thing; a family under two roofs. I still want to be with you, I still want to help you."

Delta rolled her eyes and got up out of bed, walking passed her daughter and over a pile of clothes to exit the bedroom. She stopped by the fridge, swung the door open, grabbed a cold bottle of beer with her wing, and closed it, going out the front door and back out across the lot to the workshop.

Apogee sighed in defeat, and began to look around the bedroom.

Maybe all she needed was a rolling start...

The chirping crickets were the first sign Delta heard that she had been out here with the LR79 engine until past sundown, then of course looking out the large door to confirm that the floodlights had come on, along with her trailer's porch light, illuminating the lot in the darkening surroundings. With a yawn, she dropped the wrench on the floor and exited the workshop, going back across the yard to the trailer. She came in, and looked down to her bedroom, where she saw Apogee passed out on her bed, snoring.

The second thing she noticed were the sorted piles of laundry all around the bed. It certainly looked better than how they had been scattered around both rooms. She looked at the kitchenette across from the front door she had just come through; the overflowing garbage had been taken out, and a clean bag was now in the can. The counters were still a mess, but it looked like she had tried to start sorting the dishes, empty cans, and bottles before she had fallen asleep.

Delta gave a quite sigh of resignation, hearing her daughter's words echo in her head.

'Living well is the best revenge.'

What could be the harm? She didn't have any work for the next week. That asshole lived in a penthouse; she lived in a junkyard.

So why not make it the best Celestia damned junkyard he'd ever fucking see? At the very least, it would keep that cunt of a lawyer of his off her back, who would no doubt come back eventually to see if it was 'suitable for occupancy'.

Delta quietly walked over to the bedroom doorway, looking at her daughter on the bed, out like a light.

"Alright, kid. Alright. I'll try it your way."

Author's Note

Before you come at me with claims of Déjà vu, yes, the trailer scene I transcribed from the comic for Breaking Orbit was re-used here; it's a great springboard to branch off from.

That being said, unlike last time, I'm not 100% sure where I want to take things this time. If you have any ideas or suggestions, believe me, I'm all ears.

Thanks for reading!

-Miles

A First Step

Delta Vee slowly returned to the waking world, and smelled something that she swore took her back to her college days.

She opened her eyes with a groan, and rolled out of bed. When Apogee was nowhere in sight, she glanced over at her alarm clock, and saw that it was 10 AM; Jet must have picked her up without waking her. She walked out to the kitchen and saw that the pot of coffee had just finished brewing, so it must have been only 15 minutes ago. In front of the coffee maker, was a note scribbled on a single sheet of notebook paper.

Hey mom,

Didn't want to wake you, figured you had a late night.

Thought you could use some coffee to start your day. It would probably be better than beer.

I can't wait to see what you can do to the place. I tried to get some things started for you. I just know if you work at it, you can totally knock dad's socks off!

See you next week!

Love,
Apogee

"I'd rather knock his balls off..." Delta muttered as she finished reading the note she had been left, before turning her attention to the full coffee pot. Admittedly, it did smell inviting. She opened the cabinet above the sink and found one coffee cup. Looking inside it to make sure it was clean, she grabbed the coffee pot and poured herself a cup, before going over to the fridge, coming back to the counter with the milk carton, and added a bit of milk. She gave it a stir with the last clean spoon from the silverware drawer, and took a sip.

Yeah... That took her back.

Sitting at the dining table sipping at her coffee, she glanced at Apogee's note on the counter, then around to the clutter all around it.

Where to start?

It only took a few moments to come up with 'whatever didn't cost bits'. Then that turned into, perhaps, something that could make bits. It only took her one look around the kitchenette to see the glass bottles everywhere. There was a recycling center down the block that took glass. That could get her started.

After finishing her cup, she set it in the sink along with all the silverware that Apogee had piled next to the sink, then ran hot water along with a squirt of soap. As the bubbles began to rise, she slid in any plates and bowls that would fit. It would take about four sinks worth to get through everything. As that filled up, she went out to the workshop and grabbed an empty wheelbarrow and set it just off the front steps, next to her lawn chair, and went back inside, just in time to shut off the faucet to keep it from overflowing.

She grabbed the full trash can from her room, dumped it into the empty can in the kitchen, then began sliding the two dozen bottles Apogee had sorted into the can, then began making her way around the kitchen. Under the table, under the chairs, under the counters, one had even managed to get under the fridge. By the time she was nearly done in the kitchen area, the can was already full, so she took it out and dumped what she had in the wheel barrow, and went back in for more. She got another quarter of the can filled up by finishing up the kitchen, then went down towards her bedroom.

There were easily a dozen on and around her nightstand, most tipped over from hitting the alarm clock while she was half asleep. After pulling a few more out from under her bed, the can was full again, and it was back out to the porch to dump it again. Deciding to save the rest of the bedroom until later, she made one last stop in the bathroom, seeing several more bottles by the shower and all around the toilet; some of which had to be poured out before being tossed into the can. After a third and final dump, Delta was honestly not expecting to have a full wheel barrow's worth of beer bottles in her trailer... Not to mention what was probably scattered around the lot and workshop. But for now, it was time to see what she could get for this first trip.

This was hardly her first trip to the recycling center down the block; it was actually quite routine; things would be slower than usual at the junkyard and she'd give them smaller pieces of scrap and junk that they could melt down faster. But she had always considered glass too much of a hassle for the return. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. It was time to see what a 10 minute trip down the road could do.

The recycling center owned by Carbon Hoofprint wasn't all that dissimilar to her own; except there were no living arrangements on the property; he lived elsewhere. It gave him more space to sort and weigh materials for processing. The dark grey earth pony was sitting outside, enjoying the morning sun, much like she would usually be doing if she wasn't sleeping until past noon. He saw her approach with the barrow full of bottles.

"Mornin', Deevee. What ya got for me today?" Carbon asked the pegasus as she approached his large scale.

"Oh, about a dozen good times and six hangovers." She replied.

"None of'em broken or chipped?" He asked, eyeing the contents of her wheel barrow, and she shook her head, motioning to them, inviting him to inspect them himself.

"Eh, I'll take yer word for it. Never done me wrong before." He gave her a nod, and she carefully dumped the contents of the barrow onto the large scale. The digital readout was next to his chair, and it gave him a beep and printed out a small slip of paper.

He stepped inside the small aluminum panel building, and came back out a couple minutes later with a jingling bag of bits, tied at the top with twine.

"Alright, 32 pounds of bottles all in good condition... That's 46 bits." Carbon told her, tossing her the small bag.

"For glass?" Delta asked, raising an eyebrow. She honestly wasn't even expecting a quarter of that. Pound for pound, that was within spitting distance of what she could get for aluminum.

"Yeah, I've had a contract with a bottling plant in North Las Pegasus for a few months. Their rates are decent, so I can pay out a bit more for intact bottles and jars. Have a good one now."

"Oh, I'll be back, don't worry." Delta said, turning her wheel barrow around and heading back down the street.

"Hot fucking damn, I guess the kid might actually be onto something." Delta said to herself as she walked under the junkyard sign, returning to her lot, the bag of nearly 50 bits tucked securely under her wing. Normally, that would be a great night at a bar, and maybe it was the coffee, but a small part of her wanted to keep going. She had already made a dent, and it wasn't even noon. What could she do next?

'Might as well keep the ball rolling that she started yesterday...' She thought to herself, tossing the bag of bits onto the dining table and looking back to the room with the piles of laundry.

But first, those dishes looked definitively soaked and ready for a quick rinsing and drying...

The Spark...

'If washing machines could talk...' Delta wondered, as she slid four bits into the slot of the extra large washer before hitting the button for 'Super Ultra Extreme PowerSoak'.

Actually, it was a good thing they didn't talk. Because if they did, upon seeing the condition of the clothes she had just put in, they'd probably say something along the lines of 'oh no, you need to put four more bits in if you expect us to wash these mangy things'.

Indeed, as the cylinder began to fill with water and soap, she began to realize how very little she took care of most of the fabrics in her daily life. But the cycle had started, both this one, containing her clothes, and the one next to it, containing bedsheets, a blanket, and pillowcases, and now she had 60 minutes to get something else done before she would have to be back here at the laundromat to swap everything into dryers.

It was time for another trip to Carbon's place. She quickly flew back to the junkyard and started gathering all the bottles she could see from around the workshop; there was easily another half load's worth scattered in and around the building. Adding onto that, she decided to throw aluminum on top of that. She went back to her trailer and started getting the few beer cans that were scattered around. She usually got bottles, but some nights, a six-pack of cans was cheaper than a pack of bottles, and she took what she could get. Not only that, in addition to cans, she had plenty of aluminum scrap laying around the lot. She'd usually wait for somepony to come and buy in larger quantities, but whatever she could push over to Carbon was fair game as far as she was concerned. Twenty minutes later, and her wheel barrow was full of a combination of bottles and aluminum scrap. One trip down the block later, and minus what she had just put into the laundromat washers, she now had 107 bits sitting on her dining table. Not to mention she had at least one more trip's worth of small scrap waiting to be taken over.

She got back to the laundromat just in time to spread out all her amazingly clean items into six available dryers. With so few items in each, it only took a bit per dryer to get everything dry and ready to fold. Properly folded, everything fit into the giant laundry basket she brought along. Upon getting everything back to the trailer, she knew that the plates and silverware in the sink had no doubt soaked enough. She set the laundry basket in the bedroom and came back out to put away what was on the drying rack, then washed and rinsed what was currently in the sink. When the last knife and plate was on the rack, she let out a breath of relief.

Today had been an excellent start, but laundry and dishes were just the start; this place was for all intents and purposes, still filthy.

She turned to head to the room to put away her clothes and make the bed, and for some reason, her eyes lingered on the wall, where a poster of the EQSA Space Shuttle was... Next to a picture of her graduating class, and a photo of her, in her cap and gown.

She felt a wave of anger about to wash over her, and just as she was about to go and take a beer from the fridge, she stopped.

Was that part of the problem? That she had surrounded herself with pieces of the past, constant reminders of what had been taken from her? Is that why she found it impossible to move on?

She walked up to the wall and removed the pins from the poster and pictures, rolling up the poster with her wings and taking it and the pair of pictures to the bedroom. She walked over to her nightstand and opened the front drawer and was about to toss the pictures in when she paused again, looking at what was already in there; a faded picture of her, with her mom and dad.

Feeling a lump begin to form in her throat, she leaned the rolled up poster against the nightstand before she took the photo out of the drawer, and sat down on her bare mattress with it.

She still remembered how her parents had chastised her about doing something so foolish right before her interview with EQSA. Her mom had said she would ultimately have to live with her mistakes, and that if she and Jet loved each other, they would find a way.

Fighting back tears, she continued staring at the photo as she put the graduation pictures under it.

It was easier dealing with and living with your mistakes when you had support. But the night Jet came clean changed everything. She felt angry, used, and... Afraid.

That's why she had put so much distance between her and Apogee; she was afraid. Afraid of lashing out, of blaming her daughter for something that she had absolutely no say in or control over whatsoever. She didn't want her daughter to suffer because Jet didn't know when to let go.

...But Apogee had suffered. Jet's deception, and Delta's reaction to it, had completely destroyed the family she had, and she had wanted as little to do with her daughter as possible since, because she was always a living, breathing reminder of that deception. If she wasn't so dirt poor most of the time, she'd up and leave, get as far away from Las Pegasus as possible.

'But would I really...?' Delta wondered as she continued staring at the photograph, sniffling away further tears as she dug deeper into her soul.

No.

The only thing keeping her in Las Pegasus had been herself. She kept telling herself she couldn't save up the bits to move, but being brutally honest with herself, it was because of all the money she put towards beer, cigarettes, and her next high. If she had stayed away from that stuff, she could set the bits aside to go absolutely anywhere in Equestria. It wouldn't be EQSA, but her degree was far from worthless. She had just made it worthless in her own mind. Just like she had trapped herself in this junkyard in her own mind. Because staying here, sorting and selling junk and waking up hungover had made it so incredibly easy to blame Jet for how her life had turned out.

But maybe, deep, deep down, she didn't want to leave because doing so would mean abandoning Apogee. For as adamant as she had been about not taking her relationship problems out on her daughter, moving farther than 40 miles away would put an even greater strain on them. As much as she hated to admit it, and would never, ever say it to his face, Jet had every right to fatherhood as she did motherhood. Being any farther apart wouldn't be fair to Apogee.

As if she had been even remotely fair to her so far...

She hadn't been since the night she walked out, twelve years ago.

It would also be unfair, and downright cruel, to continue to deny Apogee the mother-daughter relationship that she was so desperately seeking, so she could get at least some semblance of what Delta had in the photo she held in her wings. The deepest parts of Delta's heart were telling her that if she turned her back now, her daughter would resent her for the rest of her life.

But could she manage to mentally detach her daughter from what Jet had done to her that night? If she couldn't, it would preemptively doom any wholehearted attempt she made at connecting with her.

So as she set the pictures gently in the drawer before closing it, and turned to look at the sunset through the shades, she pushed images of the past with Jet as far out of her mind as she could, and instead focused on everything she had accomplished today, and what she could accomplish tomorrow, as a fiery determination lit in her heart.

With that, she got up from the bed and dug out the sheets from the laundry basket, unfurling the fitted sheet to pull over the corners of the mattress. She couldn't remember the last time she slept in fresh sheets. By the time the bed was made, the dusk was over, and the starscape covered the night sky over the greater Las Pegasus area.

The last item in the basket was her white tank top with the equestrian flag on the chest. It didn't look brand new, but the Super Ultra Extreme PowerSoak did wonders to the oil stains. She walked over to her small closet, hung it on one of the very few hangers that wasn't on the floor, and put it up on the rack. She fell into her fresh sheets, and shut off the bedside lamp with the tip of her right wing.

Tomorrow was a new day.

...That Lights A Fire

Delta woke up the next morning feeling more refreshed than she had in years. For once, the bed wasn't musky and she wasn't hungover.

She glanced over at her alarm clock, seeing that all of her work last night had made her get a full night's sleep, and it was 8 AM. Rolling herself out of bed, she went over to the closet and pulled out her clean tank top, or well, as clean as it was going to get. Stepping out into the kitchen, she took the last of the coffee grounds in the cabinet and began brewing a fresh pot, before pouring the last bowl of Boop-O-Roops. It was becoming clear that in addition to whatever work she wanted to get done around the lot today, a trip to the grocery store was in order.

As she sipped at her coffee and ate her cereal, she took a look around, and figured the next logical step would be to get these carpets clean. But no ordinary vacuum cleaner was likely to make a dent in the years of hoof traffic and spilled food and drinks these floors had seen. No, her best bet would be to use some of her bits from yesterday and get them shampooed. She was pretty sure that the food mart she frequented offered carpet cleaning rentals, but she had never paid them any mind.

In addition to that, she would have to put together a short grocery list. Apogee needed more than Boop-O-Roops and ordering out for pizza every other time. Delta never considered herself much of a cook, but she could certainly do some basic dishes that required more than a microwave, and could still impress a 16-year old's tongue, surely.

Once she had finished her breakfast, she started the good habit of taking the dishes to the sink and giving them a drop of soap, a quick washing, rinsing, then set them on the drying rack so they'd be ready to put away by the time she got home. With that, she strapped on her small pair of saddlebags, dropped her bag of bits inside, and went outside to grab a shopping cart that she kept around the lot, and headed off.

As she stood in the one of the two dozen aisles of the Las Pegasus Feed 'n' Seed, she began to realize how long it had been since she did a meaningful grocery run. Most trips, it was just cereal, milk, cigarettes, and beer. But without those last two, she had a little bit more bits to play with, so she was currently among the fresh vegetables, wondering what Apogee might like on a homemade pizza. Without pineapple, the possibilities were nearly limitless.

She already had two boxes of Boop-O-Roops, a can of coffee grounds, a pizza crust, a carton of milk, pancake batter, a tub of ice cream, and two jugs of carpet cleaning solution. She knew she was going to need both, and hopefully not more than that, but the machine rental was free with two jugs if she returned it within 48 hours. For pizza ingredients, she decided on a cheap can of generic pizza sauce, a single tomato, green pepper, and a block of mozzarella cheese.

As she approached the registers, she was about to ask the cashier for a pack of her preferred brand of cigarettes, but on the racks next to the conveyor belt, she saw a slightly cheaper option; nicotine gum. She dropped it on the belt along with her other items, and informed the cashier of her rental. She paid the total,got everything put in the cart she had brought from the junkyard, and was on her way. It was about a mile back to her lot, and the late morning weather was unexpectedly pleasant. It would undoubtedly heat up once noon rolled around.

She passed a strip mall halfway home, and a 50% off advertisement caught her eye as she passed. She didn't have time to stop now; she had to get these groceries put away. Coming back would put her a little behind on starting the carpets, but she had just enough bits left to make this one final purchase. But would it be ready in time for Apogee's next visit?

Before she could start to deep-clean the carpets, they needed to be vacuumed, and no regular vacuum filter would be able to endure the accumulated dirt and cigarette butts. No, this called for the wet-dry vac she had out in the shop. Hopefully it still worked. She went out to the shop, quickly wiped it down, and dragged it into the trailer, and plugged it in. When the motor started up, she went from corner to corner, getting whatever the broom and dustpan missed, and whatever else would get in the way of the deep cleaner.

In order to understand how to work the carpet cleaner, she had to sit down, pop a piece of nicotine gum in her mouth, and read the pamphlet that came with the machine twice. Once she had somewhat of an idea how to get started, she filled the reservoir with hot water, added the cleaning solution, plugged the machine in, and started in the kitchenette area.

It was a much, much slower process than regular vacuuming, or at least it would to a pony who vacuumed regularly. She was simply astonished when it she hadn't even covered a quarter of the kitchen, and the reservoir might as well have come out of a sewer with how brown and black it was. Keeping her stomach in check, Delta she detached the reservoir and took it to the sink to dump out, rinsed it out, and once again filled it with hot water, and resumed the deep clean. This was a process she repeated five times, and she hadn't even gotten to the hall yet. But as she made a second pass of the kitchen, the water took longer and longer to become filthy. After all, if the reservoir was getting dirty, that meant it was coming out of the floors, and that was progress.

After getting halfway down the hall, she glanced outside, and saw that the sun was already down. Her unexpected extra errand had cost her more time than she thought. But she still had another day before the cleaner had to go back, and she was already halfway done. She emptied out the dirty water one last time, and left the deep cleaner plugged in in the hallway. After a quick shower, she sat down at the dining table to a small bowl of ice cream as she looked around and admired another hard day's work. The brown carpet didn't look that much cleaner, but it didn't feel as dirty when she walked on it, and it certainly smelled a bit better in here now.

With a yawn, she got up and rinsed the small bowl and spoon before putting them on the drying rack, and retired to her bedroom, where she was looking forward to the clean sheets more than ever. She could also tell the difference of walking on the deep cleaned carpets of the kitchen as she passed to the hallway and bedroom carpet. As she climbed into bed, she noticed how bare her nightstand looked without all the bottles. Opening the drawer to momentarily look at the picture of her and her parents, she remembered how she didn't have any photos of Apogee she could put next to her lamp. Honestly, that was probably for the best. Everything from twelve years ago with her in them also had Jet in them, and that's not a face she wanted next to her bed. As she closed the drawer, she made a mental note that perhaps that was another thing that needed to change.

Tomorrow was the halfway point, before her daughter would come knocking again...

Seeing Clearly

When she got done with the hallway, Delta was down to one jug of carpet cleaning solution. Now came one of the trickier parts of this task; getting the bedroom cleared enough so she could get as much of the floor clean as possible. She figured the easiest and quickest way to go about it was to get everything to the far side of the room first; so she started by rolling up the blankets and pillows, setting them aside, and tipping the bed up on it's side, against the far window. Doing so blocked most of the natural light, so before moving the nightstand, she set the lamp on the floor, then turned it on. Next, she unplugged the small television and shoved the dresser it sat on against the wall next to the bed.

After a quick pass with the wet-dry vac, she came in with the carpet cleaner, and as she had quickly come to expect, barely made a single pass before the reservoir needed changing. But here, the difference between dirty and clean was more noticeable, and it was easy to know why; she spent more time here than anywhere else in the trailer, not to mention the... Gentlecolt callers, that frequently accompanied her here.

As she headed into the afternoon, a rain storm came rolling through the area, and that snuffed out any hope of returning the cleaner tonight; not a terribly big deal; she had until noon tomorrow to get her deposit back. As much as the rainfall on the roof of the trailer was hypnotic, she decided to leave the bedroom furniture where it was for the rest of the evening to let the carpet dry.

With the weather keeping her indoors, she grabbed a small bucket, filled it with soapy water, grabbed a sponge from beneath the sink, and started scrubbing every surface that the broom or vacuums hadn't touched; tables, chairs, countertops, and walls. She had to pop in another couple pieces of nicotine gum, but was elated when the smoke stains started to clear up from the walls.

Sure enough, it was past 9 PM when the rain passed, and there would be no getting to the Feed 'n' Seed before closing, not to mention that the lot and most of the roads there would be nothing but mud and muck until morning. So for now, the bedroom carpet had dried, and she returned the bed and furniture to their original places. As she laid down in bed and stole another glance at the picture of her parents, she began to wonder; with all the progress she had been making here, what would she do with herself when there was nothing left to clean? That was thinking fairly far ahead; there was easily weeks' worth of work here for a single pony.

The possibilities of what else this place could be other than a junkyard would wait for another time, as her train of thought didn't get far from the station when she fell through to the world of dreams.

When Delta returned home the next morning after taking the carpet cleaner back, she got another unexpected windfall when a stallion showed up with a wagon and bought 75 bits worth of scrap rebar. It was sales like those that kept her bar tab paid down, but now, she wondered what she could put it towards; she had already made another small purchase after returning the cleaner; two bottles of disinfectant and a box of baking soda. She knew the entire inside of the fridge and freezer needed to be cleaned, and then what would probably be the most unpleasant cleaning experience in the trailer, Delta knew that the bathroom and shower was long overdue for a hard scrubbing. Other than the bedroom, that was where she woke up most of the time, unable to recall the details of how she got there.

The fridge and freezer interiors would be a time sensitive task; she could only leave the items out on the counter for so long. The easiest method was to take the ice trays and ice cream out of the freezer, quickly clean it, then take whatever was in the fridge that could be safely frozen and thawed, and put that in the freezer. Once the freezer was done, she refilled the ice cube trays, and returned them to their place along with the ice cream, which had only thawed a bit.

That was the easy part; the fridge was another matter; she had frequently forgot about leftovers in the very back, and they'd spend the next several weeks going rancid, and that was when they managed to find their way back into the fridge at all. Delta started another sink full of hot, soapy water, and washed the shelves one by one, before giving the interior a good spray down and scrubbing. With that done, she returned all the shelved items to their place, then focused on the door, where bottles, condiments, and alcohol frequently sat, ready and waiting. With that task done, before shutting it, she set the open box of baking soda inside, ensuring that any upcoming food odors would be taken care of, at least in the short term.

She was about to head to the bathroom with the cleaning supplies when there was a knock at the front door. After setting the supplies at the bathroom door, she went to go answer it. Opening it, she came face to face with a mail delivery stallion.

"Good afternoon, Miss... Delta Vee?" He greeted.

"That's me." She replied. He dug into his mailbag and pulled out a small, almost hoof-sized box.

"Just need you to sign for this." The courier pony said, offering her a pen and clipboard. Delta's heart skipped a beat as she sloppily signed her name on the dotted line, handing the clipboard back to him and getting the package in return.

"That's it. Got to go. Have a pleasant day, Miss Vee." He said with a wave before turning to head out of the lot.

"Thanks, you too." She replied before heading back inside, closing the door behind her. She set it on the kitchen table before reaching into the a drawer and taking out her utility knife. She cut the packing tape with a great deal of care, and opened the flaps of the box. Inside, was a hinged, felt-covered hard case. She picked up up with the tips of her wings, and slowly opened it as it responded with a soft muffled squeak.

Inside, was a pair of brand new eyeglasses, very similar to the ones she had in college. She used to have two pairs; one pair she lost after throwing them at Jet as they argued the night she took off, and the backup pair was lost during one of her one night stands at the seedy dives that dotted the greater Las Pegasus area. Ever since, she found herself squinting at manuals, screwdrivers, and warning labels.

She carefully removed them from the case and placed them on the bridge of her snout, and she found herself short of breath when she realized how she had forgotten how much sharp and clear everything was with these on. She went down the hall to the bathroom, and risked looking in the mirror, and was overcome with emotion when she looked herself in the eyes.

Something as simple as a pair of glasses seemed to take ten years away. The bags below her eyes were suddenly harder to notice. As she began to cry silently in front of the mirror, she slowly became afraid that she'd leave the bathroom and suddenly find all these details and dirty spots that she had missed over the last few days of cleaning. The thought made her chuckle. Sweet Celestia, it felt great to laugh a little again.

"Well Delta," she began, glancing down to the cleaning supplies she had left by the doorway. "Let's tackle this bathroom."

A Fresh Start

"Come on, dad, hurry up!" Apogee whined as she slowly pulled ahead of her father as they glided over southern Las Pegasus.

"Sweetheart, believe me when I say I'm flying as fast as I can. I've got a flight to catch, after all." Jet responded.

His daughter had so far maintained her enthusiasm about trying to reconnect with Delta, and Jet was beginning to wonder if she was stubbornly headed into disappointment. Diamond Gavel had confided, away from Apogee of course, that it was only when she threatened a court summons did Delta relent to Apogee's requested weekly two-day custody. And now here they were, at week 2, and an emergency over in Fillydelphia was going to push that to three days.

Needless to say, he wasn't looking forward to arguing with her about it in front of Apogee.

Delta was taking in the Friday morning sun, reclined in her lawn chair outside her trailer, sipping at a fresh cup of coffee. With the way she felt right now, she could strap on that LR79 in the workshop and go to the fucking moon. Cleaning the bathroom yesterday had taken most of the afternoon, and when she got done, the first thing she did was soak for an hour in her clean shower. After that, and a hearty dinner of instant noodles, she once again fell into her bed for a good night's rest.

"Mom!" She heard an excited call from up in the sky. She adjusted her new glasses, and peered up, to see a pair of ponies she honestly wasn't expecting to see for another 24 hours.

Thus, she was hit with her first pang of disappointment as she reached over to her pack of nicotine gum on the table. Nearly all of the cleaning she had been doing for the past four days had been inside the trailer; outside around the lot, everything looked nearly exactly the same. As she got up from her chair, privately grumbling that Jet wasn't going to see any of what she'd been up to, but when she saw her daughter's excited expression as she came in for a landing, she began to realize that it wasn't only to spite him, it had also turned into a surprise for her.

"Hey mom!" Apogee greeted, as she and Jet landed in the middle of the lot. "Oh wow you got new glasses!" She exclaimed as she ran up for a nuzzle.

"That's not all." She said, returning the nuzzle, before looking up at Jet expectantly.

"I've got a situation in Fillydelphia that I need to leave for right away. I'm hoping it's alright if I drop her off early." He told her, trying and mostly failing to hide his surprise at his ex's new eyewear.

"Yeah, that's fine." She answered.

Jet was taken aback. It didn't sound sarcastic, or complaining, or grumbling.

"A- Alright, great." He stuttered, really not expecting such an immediate acceptance. That had never happened before.

"Well? Have you done anything else? How's it look?" Apogee asked her mom excitedly.

"Why don't you go in and have a look for yourself?" Delta replied, Apogee bounding for the front door moments after. She couldn't help but wonder what she'd notice first. Meanwhile, she wondered why Jet hadn't left yet as he also watched his daughter open the front door and go inside, leaving it open.

"Oh wow! A flatscreen?! Are you for real?!?" She exclaimed. Delta let out a chuckle. She got it at a yard sale down the block yesterday. 20 inches; certainly beat the 15-inch cathode she had kept on the table for the past decade.

"Yeah, Potato Ponies in high definition, how about that?" She called back. Once again, she glanced back at Jet.

"Well, don't you have a flight to catch?" She asked, before turning and heading towards the trailer after her daughter.

"So you've managed to start to picking yourself up, huh? Is that a piece of nicotine gum?" He asked, noticing the pack on the table next to her lawn chair, as well as the empty ash tray. He noticed her feathers ruffle for a moment, and he finally got the hint that he was starting to overstay what very little welcome he had here.

'No, it's three pieces, Fuck Face.' Delta thought to herself silently as she turned back to her ex, not wanting Apogee to hear her colorful language.

"You can pick her up at 9 on Monday morning. No earlier. I believe that was the agreement in Gavel's mountain of paperwork?"

"It was eight pages."

"Get off my property."

As she turned back to the trailer and heard Jet turn and take off, her slowly bubbling annoyance began to subside as she stepped inside and closed the door, watching Apogee as she took in, in her experience, how the place was absolutely transformed from what she saw last week, and the sporadic visits before that.

Her looks of astonishment were way better than any surprised look she'd get from Jet.

"Can I get you anything? Boop-O-Roops? Pancakes?" Delta asked softly, her emotions rising in her chest.

"A..." She had to pause as her voice wavered as Apogee turned to face her. "A hug...?"

Apogee stood there for only a brief moment, wondering if aliens had come down, abducted her mom and replaced her with a body double. She jumped forward, front legs outstretched, and threw them around Delta's neck.

"Thanks, mom. The place looks great so far!"

"No, thank you, Apogee." Delta replied, sniffling away her tears. "For helping me see and face some truths that I needed to face. What happened between me and your dad wasn't your fault, and I can't keep shutting you out because of that. Somehow, you never gave up on me. I know there's nothing I can do to make up for the past 12 years, but I can start trying to be the mom I should have been all along, right here, right now."

Apogee released her mom from the hug and took a step back, tearing up herself.

"Yeah, that sounds fantastic. And honestly, so do pancakes." She answered.

"You got it, pancakes it is." Delta said, going over to the stove and getting a pan out from the bottom cabinet, and lit the burner. "And for lunch we can make our own pizza." She finished as she grabbed the jug of pancake batter. In a matter of minutes they were sitting together at the table, each with a stack of pancakes drizzled with maple syrup, with Potato Ponies

"Seriously, mom. This place looks great. It's just too bad that dad didn't see it." Apogee said, her mouth full of pancakes.

"Well, he can see the outside. And if you're still serious about helping, I've got something in mind for when he gets back on Monday."

"Absolutely. Just tell me what to do."

Once they were finished with breakfast, they quickly washed the dishes, then went outside to the workshop, where Delta dragged out a piece of machinery that honestly looked like a suitcase, with two hoses attached to it; one went to a spigot around back, and the other was a bit thinner, and had a long nozzle gun attached to the end of it. Delta checked the oil and gas levels, turned a knob, and gave the pull start a yank. The small motor choked and sputtered for a few seconds, then started right up.

"What is that?" Apogee asked.

"This..." Delta began, holding up the nozzle gun, "is a pressure washer. It's just about as fun as a flamethrower. Want to try it?"

"Heck yeah!" Apogee answered excitedly.

Delta wheeled the washer over to the front of the trailer, gave the nozzle gun a short test spray, then offered it to her daughter.

"So what do you say we get the outside of this place looking like new. Have at it."

Delta Vee felt something akin to pride when she saw her daughter take the nozzle gun and look at it like she looked at a box of matches.

"Alright, Apogee. Let 'er rip!"

Author's Note

Apologies if this comes across as somewhat of an abrupt ending. As much as I wanted to be able to properly describe a giggle-worthy scene of Apogee going airborne with a full-blast pressure hose, I couldn't quite pull it off.

My first Ponyoverse fic was rather bittersweet, as Apogee was forced to let go of one dream and focused on achieving another. I wanted this one to be much more positive, and much more focused on Delta Vee, who was quickly put on the back burner in my first story.

Special thanks to Shino for not only spreading these stories on his Twitter, but for also stopping by and giving them a read. Hope you enjoyed!

And to all you other Ponyoverse fans, thanks for reading!