Derpy's Firsts

by dragonpony111

Derpy's First Word

Despite her vision troubles Derpy was still as eager to learn as any other filly. She would take a few awkward steps here and there, and became more confident as her legs steadied. The more pressing thing on her mind however was making those sounds like all the big ponies did. Derpy noticed that all of these different sounds meant different things and that the big ponies were using them to communicate. The little filly would babble at most interactions now, but she always made a random noise as she didn't realize yet to attach the same sound to a certain thing. Derpy did at least use similar sounds depending on her emotion which made it easier for Bolter and Skybreeze to figure out what she wanted or needed. One sound in particular was a high pitch squeak that Derpy had developed when anything startled her, and being a filly as easily scared as she was meant that her parents were all too familiar with that noise.

*SSQQQUUEEAAKK!!!*

It was ear piercing at first but her parents quickly got used to it, and didn't overreact as much as time went on. They knew sometimes it was best to let their daughter face something surprising, and to encourage Derpy to embrace it instead of shying away. The little filly's biggest issue seemed to be meeting other adult ponies, and especially large stallions as their size was extremely imposing to Derpy. She had learned that the doorbell ringing meant somepony was about to come in the house, and if it did then she would scamper off behind some furniture until one of her parents coaxed her back out. If that pony happened to go near or sit on that furniture Derpy's squeak was guaranteed to be heard.

Another set of sounds Derpy had managed to form were one syllable babbles whenever she tried to draw attention to herself or something, but still she always used a different one randomly. One day Skybreeze was sitting with Derpy as she played with her puzzle toy. Derpy would present every piece to her mom before putting it in the right spot, and Skybreeze would always state the color and name of the shape. Derpy's response was always a different babble though before she placed the piece down. In her head though Derpy was eager to try and form those big fancy sounds other ponies referred to as words, but she just couldn't quite grasp how to put different syllables together.

Derpy still hadn't reached her first birthday yet, but she was well on her way to speaking like everypony else. The filly had managed to realize that the same sounds were always used for the same things, and by this point Derpy had figured out to use the same single syllable babble for certain things. Skybreeze and Bolter could now ask her rudimentary yes or no questions and correctly understand their daughter's response most of the time. Derpy would try to put together and speak sentences of these syllables when in her mind they had meaning, but to anypony who heard them they were just a cute string of nonsensical noises from a foal.

The one thing that Derpy still cherished the most was her stuffed monkey plush. That thing went everywhere with her and visibly you could see it's wear. Next to her parents it was her greatest source of comfort when she was frightened, and what she wanted most was to be able to ask her parents for it if she needed to. Monkey was such a short simple world yet Derpy couldn't sound out those two syllables together even though she could do so perfectly in her head. She had the hardest time trying to pronounce the K sound and would refer to her plush as either Me or MeMe sometimes, but not often enough for her parents to associate that sound.

Being able to say what she wanted had Derpy so frustrated with herself. She always felt bad for making her parents ask a bunch of yes or no questions for something as simple letting them know what toy she wanted to play with. She had so many words inside her mind that she wanted to express to the world but her tiny mouth just didn't seem to want to let them out. For a while Derpy became so saddened at her lack of progress that she simply stopped trying to speak altogether. Other than squeaking or crying Derpy refused to make any other sounds and this worried her parents. Her parents took Derpy to a foal specialist who after several tests assured them that all foals develop at different times, and to just be more patient with their child. During her little silent stage of foalhood Derpy had began to better understand what other ponies were saying around her, and grasp basic meaning from their sentences. Derpy was mad at herself after hearing the doctor; as she understood it Derpy was making her parents wait more than they needed to, but she didn't want to upset them and was determined more than ever to make them proud.

A few nights later Derpy was all ready for bedtime and sitting in her crib. Skybreeze had forgot to put her monkey plush in the crib with Derpy which made it impossible for the foal to fall asleep. Derpy just had to have her monkey but needed to let her mom know. So she kicked off her blanket and toddled over to the other end of her crib and picked up her rattle. She waved it across the bars of the crib back and forth until Skybreeze came over to settle her down. Skybreeze tried cradling her back and forth while singing a lullaby but Derpy wasn't having it until she got her monkey. Until finally:

"Muh!..." "Mon!.."

"What's a matter Derpy? Please fall asleep."

Skybreeze tried offering Derpy a bottle and her pacifier but she rejected both of them. She was out of ideas until suddenly:

"Monk!.." "Mon...Key!" "Monkey!"

"Oh you just want your monkey. Okay I'll... wait WHAT!?"

"Monkey! Monkey! Monkey!"

"Oh Derpy your first word! Quick lets go get Daddy he'll be so proud of you!"

Comments

[dragonpony111]

9169944
Guess what story just got a new chapter after 2 years?

[Foxhelm]

Daw... Glad to see you're back.

[dragonpony111]

9174298
glad to be back :)

[BubblePuff]

I forgot how adorable this story was!

[Yosh-E-O]

Oh, yay! I'm so glad you are continuing this story. I had genuinely thought it had gone on a total hiatus. What a pleasant surprise.

This chapter did great in discussing the frustration that little ones must go through in order to be understood. I'm pretty certain they can comprehend what certain sequences of sounds mean but making them for themselves is quite the trick. Being able to root for Derpy as she works to gain that degree of coordination was a real treat. Very nicely done. :)

[Alchemik]

Awesome! Nice to see this back.

[Hypastpist]

Reject sleep

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