“No no no, pucker up your lips and then blow gently,” Derpy said and then she demonstrated her technique. She took a deep breath, her eyes narrowing, puckered up her lips, and then blew into the bubble wand. A long stream of bubbles floated away from the bright pink bubble wand that Derpy held in her wingtips.

Harper, Cadance, and Sukari all watched the bubbles floating away with wide eyed wonder. Harper, who kept blowing raspberries at the bubble wand, had not had much success at making bubbles happen. Cadance blew far too hard, and Sukari wasn’t blowing hard enough. The foals were entranced by the shimmering rainbow tinted soap bubbles as they floated away.

The grey mare dipped the bubble wand into the bubble mixture, pulled it out, and blew once more, sending forth another stream of bubbles, this time directed at Harper. Harper, under attack by bubbles, tried biting one. She jerked her head back, shaking, her whole body shuddering, spitting and sputtering, trying to get the soapy taste out of her mouth while Cadance and Sukari both fell over laughing.

Unable to help herself, Derpy too, began to chuckle as Harper made adorable faces of disgust. She heard Lyra laughing, a faint sound, Lyra, who was nursing Brandywine at the moment was trying not to disturb the foal as it suckled.

“Blech!” Harper cried and then she stuck out her tongue and licked her own leg to be rid of the horrible taste. She spat some more, gagged, and then looked up at Derpy with wide, confused eyes. Bubbles did not taste like fun, but more like bathtime.

A breeze blew, caressing those who lounged upon the lawn as Derpy blew another stream of bubbles. She heard the front door of the house open, and, lifting her head, Derpy saw Bucky coming outside. Her heart raced a bit inside of her barrel. He was wearing his heavy black cloak to protect him from the sun and she figured that he was coming out for his daily dose of sunshine. He was a bit later than usual, but better late than never.

The perky pegasus smiled as her mate approached and she blew a stream of bubbles at him. Harper was still spitting and blowing raspberries, trying to get the soap off of her tongue, while Sukari had calmed down a bit and Cadance was watching as her father approached with wide, excited eyes.

The front door opened again and a herd of zebras came out, along with Twilight Sparkle and Violet Velvet. Derpy watched them, they all looked solemn, serious, they were stony faced. It made Derpy feel bad for having fun when such seriousness had been going on. Bucky too, looked serious and a bit miserable.

“How was the meeting?” Derpy asked as Bucky sat down on the edge of the quilt.

“The zebras are upset. They demanded to know why something like this hasn’t been done sooner. So many lives have been lost and the zebra delegates feel that more should have been done sooner, that those lives might have been saved. I could not come up with a good answer and poor Twilight, she is having a lot of trouble with this. In her words, the cold, unfeeling, brutal attitudes of the zebras disturb her.” Bucky sighed and then looked down at his foals. “Could I have done more? Have I made a mistake by allowing the mirror travelers to strike us first and then reacting? Could I and should I have figured out a way to take the fight to them long before now?”

“Don’t second guess yourself,” Derpy replied as she watched Bucky look down at Crisis and little Barley, who were sleeping together, their legs and bodies entwined. “You look like you could use a smile.”

“Derpy, love, I’m sorry, but I don’t feel much like smiling now. I just feel miserable. I feel bad that Twilight is going along with this even though she hates it. I feel bad that she feels rotten for doing this. I feel awful that the zebras might be right… maybe I should have found a way to strike back directly and struck a blow before so many lives were lost in the winter war.”

Her smile never fading, Derpy held up the bubble wand and blew a stream of bubbles at Bucky. She watched as they flew all around him, some of them hitting his cloak and popping. His face was lost in the shadows of his hood but his muzzle was almost visible. No sign of a smile. Sighing, still smiling, the grey mare knew that she was going to have to resort to desperate measures.

“So… Bucky… why the long face?” Lyra asked, the unicorn was grinning ear to ear.

“I would answer you, but I’m feeling a little hoarse,” Bucky replied, speaking in deadpan with no trace of a smile. “Really, Lyra, that was terrible.”

“I know.” Lyra wiggled her hips and shook Brandywine free. The foal was almost asleep and nodding as she was feeding. Lyra, after sitting up, lifted Brandywine and began trying to get the foal to burp.

“Well, there is only one thing left to do.” Derpy, still smiling, stood up and stretched her legs. She stretched her back next, her smile widening, stretched out her wings, and then she gave herself a full body shake.

She turned around, pointing her backside at Bucky, she lifted up her tail, flicking it off to one side, and, using her wing, she reached around and held the bubble wand in front of her exposed pucker. The grey mare took a deep breath, closed her eyes, strained for a moment, causing her whole backside to flex, and then, with a pealing note, she let rip, farting, and a stream of bubbles flew away from the bubble wand, floating right towards Bucky’s face.

Violet Velvet, Twilight Sparkle, and the entire group of zebra delegates stopped and stared at the sight of the grey pegasus mare farting out a stream of bubbles into her husband’s face.

Bucky fell over as if he had been poleaxed, clutching his stomach and his sides, not so much laughing as he was choking. Lyra guffawed, her eyes squeezing shut as she sucked in wind in great wheezing gasps in between bouts of laughter. Cadance fell over, laughing, her four legs kicking as her wings flapped. Sukari was shaking as she giggled, and Harper exploded with laughter.

Giggling, Derpy dipped the bubble wand into the bottle of bubble mix and then held it up to her backside to give it another go, letting rip with another long stream of bubbles as she let go of another hearty, farty, bubbly butt blast.

“Mama, no!” Cadance cried as she rolled over and covered her face with her forelegs, still laughing but also coughing. “Smell bad!”

Derpy dunked the bubble wand into the bottle of bubble mix, sat down, and watched as her family laughed, feeling good about herself and ignoring the commotion going on with the zebras. Derpy’s ears perked, she could her a lot of snorting and laughing, but she focused on her family, hoping that Bucky felt better.

“Will Twilight be okay?” Derpy asked Violet Velvet as Violet moved about the kitchen to prepare tea. The maternal pegasus felt worried, Twilight had been in quite a state when she had left.

“Twilight was torn between her need to laugh and her need to have good manners. I suppose she will be okay, but I do believe she will be laughing about this all night at home.” Violet lifted up a tray of goodies in her levitation and carried it over to the table where Bucky and Derpy were sitting together.

Bucky looked a little weak and droopy after sitting out in the sun for a while, but the stallion was smiling, for this, Violet Velvet was grateful. Bucky had endured a hard morning and the weight of what he was going to do was crushing him.

“The zebra diplomats and delegates will have quite a story to tell about the bubble blowing pegasus,” Violet said as she set the small pitcher of cream down upon the table, placing it next to the sugar bowl. “Honestly, I think that was just what everypony needed after such a serious and if I might be straightforward, bleak meeting. Thank you, Derpy.”

“Glad I could help,” Derpy replied and after she spoke, the pegasus began to chuckle a bit. She eyed the tray of goodies with a hungry expression, she was starving. She had eaten lunch a while ago, Semillon had been nice enough to bring it outside and serve it as a picnic, but Derpy felt as though she hadn’t eaten a thing. The foals were draining her of milk as fast as she could produce it. She needed Berry here. Derpy felt a touch of sadness when she thought of Berry Punch. She hoped that Berry was okay.

The meeting went straight through lunch, I’m going to implode,” Bucky said, almost grumbling. “I hope I can eat without too much trouble, I have no idea what I’m in the mood for.”

“I do believe that Semillon is out in the greenhouse, getting together the veggies she needs for dinner… I could fix you something,” Violet offered.

“I can fix myself something.” Bucky lifted his head and looked at his secretary. She liked doing what she did, and he could see the look of disappointment upon her face. He sighed. “Fine, you can fix something. Surprise me.”

“Very well,” Violet replied as she disappeared into the pantry.

“Sukari, why are you so sad looking?” Yew Wood asked as she looked down at the rather mopey looking zebra filly. Yew, who had just come in from helping her husband deal with a wild pig carcass, was feeling a bit worn out and wanted nothing more than to spend some time cuddling with Brennus.

“Dunno,” Sukari replied.

The zebra filly looked up at the chestnut coloured one eyed pegasus. Sukari didn’t know why she was sad. She was having a hard time remembering. Life had been different once, but each day, it was becoming harder and harder to remember those other times. She had once had a different baba, but now, she couldn’t remember him at all, she had only the memory that he existed, but nothing else. Other memories were fading too. She still had the mark on her face, she didn’t like looking at it in the mirror, but she couldn’t remember how she had got it, only that it had been painful.

Yew Wood sat down upon the living room floor, her backside coming to rest upon the sun warmed wooden planks. Her tail swished out behind her. Reaching out a foreleg, she wrapped it around Sukari, pulled the filly close, and gave her a hug, holding on to her and giving her an extra squeezy pegasus hug. When she pulled away, Sukari was smiling, much to Yew’s relief. A real smile, not the fake smile little foals give their parents when they want to be brave and show there was nothing wrong.

“Feel better?” Yew asked.

“Yes.” Sukari nodded her head. She did feel better. She loved the one eyed pegasus as much as she loved anypony else in this house. The one eyed pegasus had a mark on her face too, and looking at it sometimes made Sukari feel better, even though she could not say why. The one eyed pegasus was loved, everypony and everybirdy in the house loved her, even with the awful mark on her face, which meant that the love shown to Sukari was real. It wasn’t just somepony being nice. Baba also had a messed up face and he loved her.

Sukari blinked; she had been sad about something, but now she was having trouble remembering what. It had just been a few minutes ago, but it was already gone from her mind. She shook her head, whatever it was she was feeling bad about wasn’t important. She looked up at Yew, her bright blue eyes glittering with emotion.

“Brennus?” Sukari asked in a low, hopeful voice. Sukari liked the kitten creatures, both Brennus and Bandua. They were ugly, like her.

“Yes, let’s go bug Magpie and see how my little Brennus is doing.” Yew Wood leaned down her head and kissed Sukari on top of her head, right between her ears, and she felt Sukari’s ears tickling her cheeks. “Let’s go.”

Author's Notes:

Bubbles!