Ad Astra Per Derpy Aspera

by SparklingTwilight

Chapter 4: What Came Before For Derpy

"Helmet?"

"Check," Derpy said, her voice muffled by the mask slash windshield helmet attached to her face.

"What was that?"

"Check." Derpy pressed against the helmet, sneezed, and her snout jerked up and shattered the glass.

"Let's try again," Doctor Hooves said, voice still peppy.

"Sorry, I just don't know what went wrong."

"No matter, if the glass could not hold up to such a blow it clearly was not tempered enough. Iterate. We must iterate!" Doctor Hooves put a hoof on Derpy's flank. "You are okay?"

"Sure! But other than spindly cracks, I can't see a thing."

"Your helmet is rather covered in snot, but no worries, no worries indeed!" Doctor Hooves yanked on the helmet. It stuck. He twisted. "Shall we try twisting the other way?" No luck. "I'll brace myself around you." He hugged her tight and pulled and finally yanked it off. Panting, he lay with her now embracing him. "Leverage, Derpy. Leverage is important."

Derpy brushed the back of his mane and smiled at him.

His stomach rumbled, and she felt him shift away from her hide. Chuckling and crossing his legs, he disentangled from her and rose. "Yes, um... Iteration and leverage and--"

"Muffins?" Derpy pointed at his stomach.

"Yes, indeed. Muffins. Carbohydrates. Flatbread or quickbread, one wonders? Helps a pony to think. Leavened bread. Ingenious! Right." Doctor Hooves scratched the back of his left ear and turned away. "It seems appropriate um.... for me to also now put on my... thinking pants. No? I believe I must see you here again in... how long do the delectables take to cook? It is getting close to your bedtime, correct?"

"Twenty five to thirty minutes. More than enough time."

"Brilliant! Brilliant, really. And of course, help yourself to some coffee I have in the strainer over there. Decaffeinated, of course." He meandered away, cogitating.

Derpy hummed to herself and went to prepare the muffins.

---

"I wanted him to have the best brain food," Derpy, black rims over her eyes, told her daughter, nearly as old as Derpy had been when she started her own family.

"Why are you reflecting on this, Mom?"

"Because..." Derpy trailed off and felt at her belly, which was rumbling and queasy in a way it hadn't been when she'd been pregnant with her daughter. "I'd known him for years, I'd liked him in a general sense, but that memory I just shared was when I really knew there was something special. Not just something I imagined before he 'graduated' from the orphanage.... I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"I... helped him at night with his temporal and rocketry research, after I put you to bed. I was really tired during that time."

"It helped bring you two together. I don't think I missed out."

"You're so sweet." Derpy kissed her daughter's cheek and ran a hoof through her mane. Tears welled in her eyes. "I hope... everything goes well."

"Princess Twilight Sparkle personally approved the celestianaut," her daughter said.

"That's what they're calling it?" Derpy asked, a frown spreading.

"Some kids at the School of Friendship mentioned it. It's slang. But I think it's better than the official term. More romantic--it recalls the celestial skies."

"But we invented the other term."

"Sorry, Mom. The ponynaut..." Her daughter's voice trailed off.

"It's okay.... Replace it."

"No," her daughter shook her head. "I didn't realize it meant that much to you."

"It doesn't. It's ephemeral. Everything goes away, dies and changes. Decays. Like... Dad's theories on radioactivity. What matters is how we approach life and challenges in our here and now."

"Okay, Mom."

Derpy sighed. "There is some concern about the ponynaut's journey. I think this is a secret. But it's important to let you know because they might ask me... Spitfire's the only backup left."

"Mom. You don't have to worry about running a rescue mission. You're medically exempt!"

Derpy smiled, tight. "And removed from the Program after the Princess took control."

"That was because of your... growing bundle of joy," her daughter forced a smile.

"We didn't realize that until later. I was excluded from the start."

"Mom,"

"Everything I do just goes wrong, somehow. I don't want it to rub off on him."

"Doctor--Dad. Sorry, still getting used to that--"

"Don't worry. I don't think he minds."

"But I do." Her daughter pouted. "I like him."

"It's okay."

"Anyway, Dad made the rockets with you. He wouldn't have gotten so far without you. You succeeded!"

"There were so many setbacks."

"And then he successfully sent a rocket to space!"

"I guess he did."

"Yes, he did."

"Yes," Derpy nodded, and cracked a smile. "Oh," she felt her belly. "I guess he's kicking. Really hard and... I better go to the bathroom."

"When you get back, let's talk some more. You don't need to feel so bad."

Derpy rose and grinned at her daughter. "Maybe I'm just a smidgen jealous I didn't get to go. I'd done so much and, unlike a lot of things--I had a talent for it. It felt right." She crossed her hind legs and bit her lower lip.

"Mom, you better go to the bathroom."

"Thank you," she whispered and left.

I love my daughter. And she loves me... too much.

Author's Note:

Muffin?

Comments

[SparklingTwilight]

11884514

My headcanon for the mouse is that it is now inedible.

[owlicious]

Something I found funny to imagine in James T Kirk's voice.

These are the voyages of Equestria's first ponynauts. Equestria's first three missions: To explore the red planet. To rescue the first ponynaut. To boldly go where no creature has gone before!