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// Derpy's First Step 
// Story: Derpy's Firsts 
// by dragonpony111 
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It had been about a month since that visit to the hospital. Derpy's condition hadn't noticeably worsened yet, and she really only seemed to have issues related to depth perception; such as grabbing things or bumping her head when crawling around. For such a needy foal Derpy's parents were just happy they had something that would keep Derpy occupied. Other than spending time with mommy or daddy playing with her toy bubble train was always her favorite activity during the day. The colorful bubbles would catch the light in just the right way which made them shimmer brightly. This was a sight Derpy thought to be incredibly pretty. She would giver her bubble train a large push across the floor, and the trail of bubbles it would create left Derpy in a trance. Once they started falling though Derpy would try to pop or catch as many of them as she could with her hooves, and she would giggle with every success.

However Derpy became frustrated with her bubble train after several recent futile attempts. The filly could no longer catch the bubbles easily which led her to abandon it more often. Her parents saw how heartbroken Derpy was, and they would help her catch them, but Derpy didn't seem to enjoy it as much as catching them herself.  Of all the things that would upset Derpy the most. It wasn't her impaired vision exactly, but just the fact that she couldn't enjoy all of the bubbles her toy train made. Despite her situation though Derpy was becoming more active as the days went on. She would crawl around much more, be much more playful during bath time, and also get more excited any time her parents took her outside.

The filly's courage was increasing too. Meeting new ponies didn't frighten Derpy to the point of burying her head into Skybreeze's chest. Though she still squirmed around when somepony other than Skybreeze or Bolter tried to hold her. As long as Derpy was awake and distracted by something like one of her toys her parents could finally go off into another room without Derpy crying for them; although this still happened anytime Derpy was sleeping. Neither of them had the slightest idea of how their sleeping daughter knew they were away. In the recent days Skybreeze had noticed that when she would set Derpy down her foal would stand on her own for a brief moment, and after a few seconds Derpy would succumb to her shaky legs as she fall back on her haunches.

Derpy noticed that all the big ponies like her mommy and daddy were walking on their legs, and not crawling around like she was. The filly didn't understand how to do this yet but thought she could at least try getting up on her legs. Her impaired vision definitely hindered her progress though. Always bumping into walls and tripping over her toys had her scared enough with only crawling, but she wanted to be just like mommy and daddy to make them proud. One day Skybreeze had just finished brushing Derpy's mane and tail after a bath, and she set the newly cleaned filly on the living room floor with her toys. Like usual Derpy attempted to stand for as long as she could, but this time Derpy lifted up one of her front legs. It looked as though she was making an attempt at taking a step forward, but all she managed to do was lose her balance, teeter back and forth a few times, and finally tumbling over as she landed on her back.

*sniff* *sniff* "Waaa." "WAAAAAA..."

"Don't worry sweetie you're getting it. Just keep trying your best and you'll get it."

Derpy was about to start crying but Skybreeze instantly scooped her up to console her. Bolter and her couldn't be more pleased that at least Derpy seemed to be progressing normally  despite her vision problems; even she was a bit slower than a normal foal. Though Derpy's parents detested the word normal when it was used in such a way by other ponies. To them Derpy was no different than any other foal as nopony is ever perfect. Some of Derpy's incoherent babble even started to sound more like actuall syllables, and when one of her parents would ask Derpy if she wanted her bottle their daughter would simply respond "Baba" or some close variation of the sound. She needed some help guiding the piece exactly into the hole, but Derpy had also seemed to figure out her puzzle toy. Derpy had managed to grab any shape and attempt to put it into the correct hole, but it usually took her a few tries to center the piece right due to her vision. 

The big moment finally came one day in the afternoon. Derpy had just finished one of her naps and was still waking up in her crib when Bolter had arrived home from work. She was starting to get anxious and fidgety because she knew daddy was home and Derpy wanted to hug him. Skybreeze was also in the bedroom doing some cleaning and noticed Derpy getting upset from hearing her whines.

"Calm down Derpy. I'll bring you in there in just a moment. Daddy isn't going anywhere."

All Derpy really understood from that sentence was the word daddy which had the opposite effect of settling her down. Skybreeze finished some dusting and finally picked up Derpy from her crib which excited the rambunctious filly even more. After Skybreeze carried her into the other room Derpy leaped from her hold when she saw Bolter, and buzzed her wings to gently plop onto the ground. She was so excited that she struggled up onto her legs. After a moment of finding her balance Derpy took her first step forward, but she wasn't prepared for the shift in her weight. The forward momentum caused her to take a few rushed steps to try and stay up but she eventually tumbled forward and rolled into Bolter's leg. Derpy wanted to cry for failing in front of her parents, but Bolter picked her up and held her up above his head.

"Wow Derpy you just took your first steps! Your mother and I are both so proud of you!"