Rainbow Dash and Misty Fly return to the Wunder Bar, their spirits high, squeezing through the crowd that’s quickly becoming hovering room only. Fortunately Rainbow Dash’s spot is still available, though she chooses to hover just behind Fluttershy, figuring the mostly ground-bound pegasus won’t mind her blocking her view. She snickers at seeing the five yellow pegasi clumped together (Misty Fly having taken off her flight suit), wondering if that was from the quite green Mr. Shy’s timid demeanor extending even to his offspring or just a happy coincidence.

“Hey, dam,” Misty Fly greets Sleethoof, then quickly gives her two dahms a nod. “Stormy. Sylvia.” Her smile falters for just a second. “Did, er, you see what happened?”

“We saw you converse with the doctor,” Sleethoof says as she reaches forward to squeeze Misty Fly’s hoof. “Is everything all right?”

“Well, yes and no?” Misty Fly takes a deep breath, glancing up at Rainbow Dash for support. The hovering pegasus returns a broad grin. “There’s nothing wrong with me. Well, there is, or I would be up there.” Her smile becomes more strained. “But it’s nothing too terrible!”

Sleethoof grips her filly’s hoof a little tighter.

Misty Fly sighs, her head lowering, soft enough to only be heard by those at the table. “I can’t keep the turns as tight as I need to without feeling like I’m about to pass out. For my safety, and that of the team, I’m dropping out. Retiring after a long and distinguished career, as I’m sure they’ll spin it.”

“Oh, dear,” Sleethoof says, bringing a second hoof to bear on her filly’s. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Though the choice to leave obviously weighs on her, Misty Fly straightens up and holds her head high. “I’ve got a lot of life ahead of me. Who wants to ruin that by pushing too hard? Especially with Lightning Dust eager to step up.”

“We did see her in your spot,” Sleethoof confides. Stormy Flare nods along, though Sylvia and Fluttershy look a bit lost. “Are you sure you’re doing okay? Being a Wonderbolt was your dream.”

“It was. But now?” Misty taps her dam’s hoof twice, finally letting go. “I’ve been thinking about what I want to do for a long time. No offense, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my life stuck in an office. Fly is even in my name!” Both Sleethoof and Stormy Flare roll their eyes, getting a friendly snort from Misty. “After talking to Rainbow Dash, Ponyville sounds like a good option. Fluttershy’s there; it’ll be great having family nearby.” Misty Fly flashes her cutie mark, two teal butterflies shrouded by dark blue mist.

“It sounds like you’ve thought this through,” Mrs. Shy says, the other mares agreeing with warm smiles and nods. “Whatever you think is best, dear.”

Misty Fly grins, embracing each mare in turn.

Their food arrives, hearty helpings of pickled cabbage, white asparagus, and cheesy noodles with crispy onions that Rainbow Dash has a hard time sharing (seeing as nopony knew to order for Misty). But she does, figuring she can grab a loaded hay sandwich when she visits her parents. It feels much like the last time she was pregnant, barely able to keep her ravenous body sated with how much exercise she gets. Maybe if she stopped hovering everywhere? Nah, not worth it.

“Thanks for showing her that kindness,” Fluttershy whispers to Rainbow Dash. She giggles adorably. “I must be rubbing off on you!”

“It was the loyal thing to do,” Rainbow Dash counters, grinning as she bumps withers with her herdmate before again taking to the air.

“That went a lot better than I feared,” Misty Fly remarks to Rainbow Dash as she joins her hovering. “Are your parents this easy to talk to?”

“As far as not being a Wonderbolt?” Rainbow Dash gulps down her meal, not quite dreading their reaction but neither being enthused by telling them it would be at least another year before she became a Wonderbolt. In fact, she’s not really enthused by telling them much of anything. “More or less. They were always super enthusiastic over every little thing I did. Especially the little stuff. Embarrassingly so.” She gives a little half-shrug. “It’s great having parents who support you, no matter where your cutie mark takes you, I guess.”

Misty Fly cocks her head. “I’m sensing a but?”

“Being embarrassed by them isn’t enough?” Rainbow Dash sighs. “I guess… there’s such a thing as being too supportive, you know? Like, how are you going to achieve your full potential if you’re being praised for being where you are?”

“Because you’re not just praising somepony’s position,” Misty Fly answers between bites. “You’re also praising their trajectory.”

Rainbow Dash stops chewing.

“In fact,” Misty Fly continues, “that’s probably the most important thing to praise.” She blinks as her mane blows back, only a rainbow contrail next to her. “Dash?”

Rainbow Dash nervously taps the carved path just outside her parent’s cloud house. The walls are mottled like stone, with wavy windows and rainbow decorations. The only trace of green is on the tinted windows, so unlike Ponyville and Mrs. Shy’s. She can hear her sire harvesting the clouds in the back yard - the regenerating stratus are always growing, the excess sold as sod - but she can’t find the words that she’ll say to him.

How did she not see that before? She had resented her parent’s incessant cheering, their obsession over what she saw as insignificant achievements. Of course she was focused on the here and now - she always tends to live in the moment - and never considered that their praise might have been what bolstered her confidence and kept her climbing. And how had she treated Scootaloo? She didn’t heap praise; no, she pushed and pushed, never satisfied with almost hovering or her comparatively slow pace when she raced down the hoofball field. She wanted a filly who could improve, but she didn’t, she couldn’t see in what direction her filly had. It had all been about flying. She’s so glad Scootaloo doesn’t resent her for that - unless Scootaloo is as good at hiding her true feelings as she is.

But what is she going to say?

Thanks, mom and dad, for always supporting me? Sorry for leaving you out of my life for seven years because I thought I had stalled, and I was worried your praise would keep me in that rut?

Huh. When she puts it like that, it does sound kind of silly.

The sound of the harvester cuts off, her sire calling, “Uh, honey?” as he stares at the rainbow contrail above their house. He wipes a bit of sweat from his brow onto his green shirt, yet his mohawk rainbow mane remains as perky as ever.

“Yes, dear?” her dam’s voice returns, muffled until the goggled blue mare sticks her head out the upstairs window. “Done already? The bath is nearly…”

Windy Whistles trails off as she spots Rainbow Dash. She pushes her goggles up to her orange and scarlet mane, jaw slowly dropping before snapping to a gregarious grin.

It takes her sire only slightly longer to recognize that the quickly dissipating rainbow ends at his daughter.

“I should have known!” Bow Hothoof bellows, abandoning his harvester to embrace his filly in a rib-bending hug. “Who leaves the best contrails? You do!”

“And they last so long!” Windy Whistles strains to make out the tail end of the rainbow, whistling appreciatively. And loudly. Very loudly. Also, overly long in duration. Rainbow Dash can’t help but think every eye in the neighborhood is on them. Even Fluttershy, lagging far behind and following said contrail, seems to be snickering. “Best aerial performance ever!”

“Yeah, sure,” Rainbow Dash deflects, rubbing at the back of her mane. Or she would if her sire would let her go, but he’s too busy crushing her, only made worse when her dam joins in. “Can, um, can we take this inside?”

When her parents don’t respond Rainbow Dash groans, waddles to the front door, and lets herself in. At least they’re not dead weight, sort of helping with their wings except when they have to slot through the thin opening. Then they just pinball back and forth with every flap until a lucky twist slips them through and sends them tumbling to the floor. At which point they still haven’t let go.

Inside looks just like she remembers, with half a dozen different places to sit down, depending on what kind of mood she’s in. Rainbow Dash crawls to the biggest couch, since it can hold all of them, though a good part of her wants to curl up and hide inside the egg-shaped chair.

“So strong,” her sire praises, giving her a final hug before settling down. “The strongest pony ever!”

“That’s Princess Celestia,” Rainbow Dash counters with a roll of her eyes.

“Strongest pegasus?” Windy Whistles tries.

“Bulk Biceps.” Unless they’re talking wingpower, in which case it very well might be her, as nopony else can generate a Sonic Rainboom. She allows a thin, preening smile. “Okay, that one might be true.”

“Yey!” her dam cheers,

Rainbow Dash’s rolling eyes wander to her dam’s collection of Princess Celestia themed decorative plates. One of the four stands out. “Hey, did you get some new additions to your collection?”

“Aren’t you just the most perceptive pony ever!” Windy Whistles grins, and when Rainbow Dash doesn’t counter that true fact she flits over to show off the plate with the same painfully large amount of enthusiasm. “This one was hoof crafted and fired by Princess Celestia herself! You can see how she carefully worked the gold with the ceramic, not just as an overglaze or gilding but solid metal!” She steps back, her entire collection of Celestia dolls and statuettes and impressionist paintings on display.

“Wow. That’s really special.” Rainbow Dash gulps, not at all sure how to start this. “And, um, speaking of really special, I have something I need to tell you.”

“Oh,” Windy Whistles returns, suddenly serious. “We have something we need to tell you, too.”

The shift is so stark Rainbow Dash dreads whatever comes next, made only worse when her sire joins her dam in solemnly nodding, the two holding onto each other for support. “W-what is it?”

Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof simultaneously rip off their shirts, revealing t-shirts with her cutie mark of a cloud and multicolored lightning bolt.

“Just how awesome you are!!”

Relief floods Rainbow Dash, enough to make the room spin. “What?!”

“Doesn’t she just have the best reactions?” Bow Hothoof grins as Windy Whistles dutifully snaps a picture, again pulling Rainbow Dash into a hug.

“We heard you like pranks,” Windy Whistles explains.

“So you’ve worn my cutie mark every day,” Rainbow Dash squints as tries to parse this, “just in case I happened to show up?”

“We had to do something with the overstocked boxes,” Bow Hothoof offers. “Since your arrival into the Wonderbolts was delayed.”

Windy Whistles gives her an almost apologetic smile. “We also made napkins, table cloths, dish rags, sheets, and quilts.”

The thought of her parents wearing her cutie mark, while sleeping on her cutie mark, makes Rainbow Dash a tad nauseous. “Yeah. Right. And, um, about my arrival into the Wonderbolts being delayed.”

She draws in a deep breath, her parents’ grins turning up to full blast. “You’re gonna be grandparents again!”

If she thought her parents were loud before, it’s nothing compared to the massive eruption they let out, like Fluttershy pre-Sonic Rainboom versus Fluttershy after.

Somewhere, in the chaos and the congratulations and the repeated bear hugs that go on for far too long, Fluttershy lets herself in, her mane blown back by the exuberance.

“Best announcement ever!” Windy Whistles exclaims between squeezes. “I knew you had it in you!”

“Of course it was in her,” Bow returns, apple-eating grin wide. “How else do you think it happened?”

Windy Whistles wallops her husband over the head. He groans as he lets go, but his grin remains. “Ignore him, dear,” she says, Rainbow Dash wishing she could. “Now. Colt or filly? Or are you leaving that a surprise?”

“Colt,” Rainbow Dash says, glad for the respite, however brief. Her ears fold down. “I’m, um, sorry I didn’t tell you about Scoots until she was born. And then, um, didn’t involve you all that much after.”

“That was your choice, dear,” Windy says, seeming far more understanding than Rainbow Dash would be were the positions reversed. “We’re happy to support you, however you choose.”

Rainbow Dash lets out a small, only slightly impertinent smile. “As long as that support is long, and loud, and frequent.”

“It sounds like you found a stallion who’ll treat you the same way,” Bow rejoins, earning himself another playful swat in the head.

Windy Whistles shakes out her wings, ignoring the stallion now splayed out on the floor. “More importantly, dear. Was that remorse I heard, the product of a lesson learned?”

Rainbow Dash offers a hopeful smile. “It was. And, um, if you want to be a larger part in this little guy’s life, then, um, you’re welcome to.”

Windy Whistles glances at her husband. “We have been talking about moving.”

Bow nods back. “And Ponyville would be a fertile market.” He evades his wife’s wing this time, ready for it. “Is your house still the only cloud-based?”

“Yup.” Rainbow Dash scratches at the back of her mane. “We might need to rezone some areas, build ‘em low, to keep the aesthetic. Mayor Mare can be pretty particular about that.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Bow says, his chest puffing out. “Leave that to the professionals.”

“Professional rapscallion, more like it,” Windy counters with a wink. “But, you’re sure, dear? We wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“I think I need a bit more of that intrusion in my life.” Rainbow Dash grins at her parents. “Your support helped make me the awesome, confident, amazing, awesome, and awesome pony that I am today. I took that for granted for too long.”

“We’d better get started right away, then!” Bow Hothoof leaps up to give Rainbow Dash a final hug, then darts from this item to that and makes sure everything in the room is strapped down. Windy Whistles gives Rainbow Dash a firm pat on the withers before gathering up the things that aren’t.

Rainbow Dash gives them a wave goodbye before slinking out of the house, her wings conspicuously covering her cutie marks. Fluttershy, who has perhaps wisely stayed to the side the entire time, raises an eyebrow.

“It’s one thing to have them back in my life,” Rainbow Dash explains as they fly back to the Shy household. “And quite another to have them fawning over every little thing I do.”

“Even so,” Fluttershy says, “it’s nice to have parents so supportive.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash admits, grinning. “It sure is.”

Their good spirits last until they return, and Fluttershy spots Hedge working on one of the floating plants, a solid splotch of green marking the filly’s brown flanks. None of the other mares seem to have returned, and Acridy is nowhere to be seen. At first Rainbow Dash thinks it might be something stuck to the dirty filly’s side, but by the way the image ripples in the wind?

“Hedge!” Fluttershy exclaims, more in shock than in joy. She zips closer, faster than Rainbow Dash has ever seen. As they get closer they can make out the finer details of the stunned filly’s side: a mass of dark green vines with pointed leaves spilling out of an obscured cloud planter. A pair of orange spots seem to hide inside. “Is… is that your cutie mark?!”

Hedge glances back at her flank. She gulps nervously. “Y-yes?”

Fluttershy stares at the mark while occasionally glancing at the surrounding planters. “Oh, dear.”

“Is that…” Rainbow Dash guesses, squinting and trying to make out anything else among the leaves.

“...You can say it,” Hedge answers, heading bowing.

Rainbow Dash sports her best apple-eating grin. “A hedge?”

Hedge, still bowed, shrugs slightly. “Maybe?”

“Oh?” Rainbow Dash snickering. “Hedging your bet?”

“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy admonishes, though Rainbow Dash only rolls her eyes. She turns back to Hedge, her eyes slowly widening.

“I-it’s not an animal,” Hedge whispers. Fluttershy just stares. “I know you wanted me to get one like that.”

“What?” Rainbow Dash asks. Her grin returns. “You’re sorry you got a… hedge?”

“‘M sorry,” Hedge whimpers.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” Rainbow Dash says, giving Fluttershy an expectant look. “Right?”

“It’s a plant,” Fluttershy says, chewing on her lip. “But Applejack’s been hoping for an apple on her fillies.”

Rainbow Dash’s face scrunches up. “Wait. You’re not mad that Hedge got a hedge for a mark, but that Applejack might resent you for it?”

Fluttershy offers a meek smile. “Err. Yes? She’s been hoping for one, any kind of plant, really, and I’ve gone and beaten her to it.”

“Yeah, well, she’ll get more shots at it.” Rainbow Dash winks at Fluttershy, whose gloom finally seems to let up. “Besides, we should be happy! And supportive, even if she is a pegasus with a plant cutie mark.”

“Of course,” Fluttershy agrees, embracing her filly. “I’m so happy! You got your cutie mark!”

“Thanks,” Hedge says, returning the embrace, lifting a hoof for Rainbow Dash to join in.

Next Chapter: Ch. 171 - Spirit Guards, Part One Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 5 Minutes