//------------------------------// // Apogee's Revelation // Story: Repair Attempts // by milesprower06 //------------------------------// It had taken just about two years, but Delta Vee had finally come to the conclusion that bloodying Jet's nose was one of the best things that had happened to her in quite some time. After that short but sweet confrontation that night, Delta would have put 50 bits down on getting a visit from Gavel, or having to go into court to defend herself against an assault charge, having gone so far as to rehearse her defense of 'the fucker invited me in', but nothing of the sort came of it. In fact, since then, she had seen far, far less of her ex. The week after, he suddenly decided that Apogee was old enough to make the trip between her parents' separate homes herself, a freedom she relished. Delta wasn't content to let Jet be the only one giving Apogee more personal freedom as she approached marehood. She had cleared away a quarter of the workshop, and had an insulated wall and door installed to give her daughter her own bedroom, as her one-bedroom trailer wasn't adequate for the privacy she wanted to give her. Before long, Apogee's 'loft' was furnished with a bed, nightstand, and full-sized desk, as her grades in school had only continued to climb. The pressure washing business had also continued to gain traction and revenue as well. It had gotten to the point where Delta had to go purchase a second washer so she and Apogee could split the workload as more and more customers came to have their businesses, sidewalks, and patio furniture cleaned. But today, the two of them were taking the day off; they always did for special occasions, such as today. Her Apogee was now legally a mare, though you certainly wouldn't guess it to look at her. Apogee's most annoying feature about herself was her stunted growth which had stuck with her through her teenage years. It was very slowly starting to wear off, but she had barely grown two inches in the last two years, and could still easily pass for a filly half her age. She had already made a note to carry around not only her ID, but a copy of her birth certificate as well to prove her marehood to any age-restricted gateways. The two of them had celebrated in style at one of the closer, cheaper resorts, spending the day at buffets and swimming pools. Now, it was time for dessert, as Delta opened the fridge and removed a large white box and set it on the kitchen table. She opened the top flap and carefully lifted out a dome cake, which had been expertly covered in green and blue frosting to look like Equus. Using the tips of her wings, she inserted 18 white birthday candles. Apogee came through the front door just as she was halfway done getting them put in. "Maybe I should've asked for ten minutes instead of five." Delta said, glancing back at her with a smirk. Her daughter approached the dining room table and sat down as she nearly salivated at the inviting-looking cake. She had already done presents this morning; the big one was a pair of tickets to next month's rocket launch at Cape Caneighveral, and already Apogee couldn't wait. It would be such a fantastic way to start the summer, especially since she had largely spent the last three months working, lounging around, and looking at brochures for various universities, since she had graduated high school a semester early. After she got the candles placed around the dome, Delta lit a match and expertly lit all 18 of them in a matter of seconds, then carefully pushed the cake towards her daughter. "Happy Birthday, Apogee." She said. Apogee looked over the cake, watched the flames dance on the tips of the wicks, like satellites in orbit. She put her hooves on both sides of the platter, took a breath, and started to rotate the cake as she forcefully exhaled on the candles to blow them out. She impressively got all the way around in one breath, but Delta began to snicker as she pulled her head back and saw that nine of them were still aflame. Trick candles. "Mom!" Apogee whined playfully as she now set to giving the remaining candles prolonged blows to extinguish them, as Delta went to the drawer to get a knife and serving spatula, chuckling the whole way. "Well, pretty soon you're gonna be off to college and I'm gonna have to find new ways to amuse myself, so I've gotta get my shots in while I can." She said as she began to slice into the cake. "You have fun today?" She asked as she plopped the first slice down on a small plate and served it to her daughter. "Absolutely. I can't wait for next month." She replied, going in for her first bite of cake. "You give any more thought of where you'd like to go to school in the fall?" Delta asked, starting into her own slice as well. "Right now I'm leaning towards the University of Neighvada. They've got a decent rocket science program, and it's still local. I don't want to get too far away from you and dad just yet." The freckled pegasus answered. "Well, we've all got to leave the nest at some point. It'll be nice still having you close by, but don't feel like you have to stay close for our sakes. I know your scholarship offers will go a long way, but I know your dad will do whatever he can to help, and so will I for that matter." Delta assured her. Apogee was silent through her next three bites of cake, before she swallowed and finally looked up at her mom again. "Mom, what happened between you and dad?" She asked. The question brought a pause to Delta's current bite of the molten chocolate cake, as she set fork down and went to the fridge to pour two glasses of milk. "I mean, I don't want to put a damper on the whole day..." Apogee continued. "Don't think like that. I know you've been curious for quite some time now, and... Yeah, I think you're old enough to understand, and you have the right to know." Delta came back to the table with both glasses of milk in her wings, and sat back down, taking a deep breath. "Your dad and I met in college. And the way he used his words... If smooth-talking could build and launch rockets, we'd have colonized the moon by now. We talked at a diner about where we thought the rocket science industry was heading, how we could start to disprove all of the old Celestia's tales that everypony always believed in... Your dad was set on creating his own company to compete with EQSA, creating a reusable rocket engine that could bring down the cost of launches to just the cost of refueling. We started dating as we continued through college. Talking about it was one thing, but drawing up designs and blueprints, creating a working prototype... That was going to take a lot more than words, and a lot more time." Delta paused to take a couple bites of cake, and Apogee listened intently. "Finding employment and paying bills soon got to the top of my list of priorities. Not too long after graduating, I got a job offer from EQSA. Your dad was adamant on trying to hold onto me, tried to convince me to move in with him, start the company up... Ever the smooth talker, he convinced me to go out for drinks one last time... I got drunk, he took me back to his place..." Apogee noticed her mom's brow furrow as she took her through the past, taking another bite of cake and a sip of milk. "I was so hungover that I missed the interview the next morning. They wouldn't reschedule. Two weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant with you. Your dad swore it was an accident. I figured I'd try to make the best of things. I moved in with him, and we started to build EquestriAero." Delta finished off her glass of milk, and made a quick trip to the fridge to pour another glass, and returned to the table and her half-eaten slice of cake. "Four years later we had a fight, and he confessed that it wasn't as much of an accident that he had originally led me to believe. He knocked me up to keep me around." Apogee barely remembered that night. She was too young, but she remembered the yelling and screaming... And she also remembered that it had been the last time that her mom and dad had been under the same roof regularly. "I left, and never looked back. I went to the closest bar and... Crawled inside a beer bottle and stayed there for 12 years." Apogee felt her stomach churn, and found that she had almost instantly lost her appetite. Delta noticed her lips start to tremble. "Now you listen to me," Delta told her daughter firmly but gently. "What your dad did... None of it is your fault. That's why I was so distant for most of your life. I never, ever wanted to risk blaming you for something you had absolutely no control over. I know that was wrong of me, and I'm sorry. I really am." Apogee swallowed, and forced back the tears threatening the corners of her eyes. "Did..." She had to pause to swallow another lump in her throat as the inevitable was delayed further. "Did he ever apologize?" Apogee asked, her voice shaking. Delta leaned back in her chair as she continued into her cake. "I honestly don't know, kiddo. I spent a very long time wasted, high, or both... Trying to make myself forget how I had been used. It probably wouldn't have mattered because I wanted absolutely nothing to do with him after that." Deciding that she wasn't going to let her mom see her like this, she got up from the table. "I'm sorry, mom. I'm sorry, I have to go. I'll be back." She said, sniffling all the way to the front door. "Apogee, wait!" Delta objected, getting up to give chase. Too late. She wasn't even off of the front steps before she was airborne, and Delta lost her against the setting sun as it dipped below the Las Pegasus skyline. Deep down, she had been afraid of this. You couldn't just unlearn a revelation like that, no matter how much you think you're ready to hear it. But it also wouldn't have been fair to keep the truth from her any longer. With a sigh, she turned away from the front door, and went over to the coffee maker to start a fresh pot. She probably wasn't going to make it far past midnight due to the early mornings she and Apogee had long gotten used to, but if she came back, she wanted to try and be up for her. Jet Stream waited patiently at the dining room table in front of two plates, two glasses, and a birthday cake. He made sure to have Apogee promise to not be too late to celebrate with him after finishing up with Delta, and he figured she'd keep it; after all, what teenage filly could say no to birthday cake twice in one day? He was so fixated on the front door and scrolling through his phone periodically that the thud of hooves landing on the patio behind him gave him a decent startle as he almost dropped the phone on the cake. He turned and saw Apogee glaring at him, wings flared, and tears streaming down her face. He quickly got up and went over and opened the sliding glass door. "Apogee, are you alri—" "Is it true?" She interrupted, blinking away tears, immediately replaced by fresh ones. "What are you talking ab—" "Is it fucking true, did you seriously do that to her?!?" She screamed at him, her chest heaving, forgetting all about the open patio door. Jet was too shocked for words, and it took a moment for it to finally sink in. It had finally happened. Delta had told her. But before he could get a single word out, Apogee bit her lip. "It is. I can see it in your eyes..." She said through gritted teeth. Without another word, Apogee galloped passed him down the hall, into her room, and slammed the door. After standing there dumbfounded for a moment, he followed her down the hall, tried her bedroom door handle, and found it locked. He heard muffled sounds of rummaging on the other side. "Apogee? Sweetheart, it was a long time ago and—" "No! I don't want to hear it!" Jet sighed and decided to leave her be for now. It would be easier to talk to her when she calmed down. 'So much for a birthday celebration...' He thought to himself. He went back to the dining table, and put the glass dome back over her uneaten birthday cake, and returned it to the fridge. He had just closed the fridge when he heard her bedroom door open, and heard quickly approaching hoofsteps. Apogee came out of the hallway into the common area, saddlebags strapped around her midsection. "Apogee, where are you going?" "None of your business." "You can't just take off in the middle of the night." "Last I checked, I've been out of school for three months, I just turned 18, so good luck telling me what I can and can't do." She shot back, turning and heading towards the patio. "Apogee, I think you need to take a few deep breaths, and—" "Stop!" Apogee shouted, turning back towards him. "Just stop, alright dad? I don't want to hear whatever excuses you've fed yourself over the last 18 years. I can't even look at you right now. This may be ancient history to you, but this is fresh to me. Now I've finally got some answers as to why I never had a family under one roof growing up. No, the only thing I want you to do is dig down, really deep down, and confront what you did. Then, find some way to make amends. If she keeps turning you away, well, then you're gonna have to come up with something that gets her attention. Until you figure it out, don't call me, don't text me, don't follow me. I don't want anything to do with you right now." With that, Apogee exited onto the patio, and vaulted over the railing, spreading her wings and disappearing into the night Las Pegasus sky.