//------------------------------//
// Confrontation 
// Story: 6 Months, Several Eternities 
// by TheRainbowEffect 
//------------------------------//

	“Hey mom, hey dad.” 
Her parents stood there at the door. They were both wearing fancy business suits, presumably leaving for work soon. 
“Dew, we’ve missed you so much!” 
Her mother cried out and flung herself around Rainbow. 
“Mom, I’m not sure if you know this, but I’m Not Dew Drop anymore, I’m Rainbow Dash now.” 
Then her father chose to speak. 
“Even if you’ve changed appearance, you’ll always be our Dew Drop.” 
“No, dad. I’m not Dew Drop, I never was Dew Drop.” 
“Oh, Dew, honey, don’t be irrational,” her mother countered. 
“No, you don’t be irrational! You tried to make me who I wasn’t!” 
“Nonsense, Dew, we were trying to help you be successful!” 
“Mom, I was trying to be who I wanted to be! And I’m doing just fine! I won the Best Young Fliers Competition! I pulled off the Sonic Rainboom, mom. Lots of ponies think that’s only legend. I would stink being a businesspony and you know it.” 
“Dew, you’d have been great had you listened!” 
“No, mom, I won’t ever be a businesspony!” 
“Dew, please just consider!” 
“Mom, when I left home and dyed my mane, I don’t regret a moment of it.” 
“Dew, please, we tried hard to make you a good, hardworking businesspony.” 
“Mom, you didn’t listen to me the million times I said I didn’t want to be one!” 
“You were acting impulsively! You never gave it thought!” 
“I gave it more thought than you did!” 
“Dew, we wanted you to follow in our footsteps! We are respected ponies!” 
“I don’t want to follow in your footsteps. Your footsteps are some of the most boring footsteps to follow!” 
“You don’t understand, Dew!” 
“I understand more than you do!”” 
“Dew, you’re being belligerent. Please don’t do this to us.” 
“Look, mom, the reason I came here wasn’t to argue with you. I need to tell you something. You and dad.” 
Her father, who had been awkwardly standing off to the side, rejoined his wife and asked, “What is it, Dew?” 
“You’re probably wondering who this is,” Rainbow asked, referring to Applejack. 
“Well, get on with it, Dew.” 
Yes, get on with it! 
YES! GET ON WITH IT! 
“Her name’s Applejack. I met her after I left. I found Ponyville and met a pony named Pinkie Pie who then introduced me to her. Applejack’s one of the best ponies I’ve ever met, and, well…” 
“What is it, Dew?” 
Rainbow searched for the words. She thought for a moment. No words came to her, but something else did. 
She instantly leaned her head and pressed her mouth hard against Applejack’s and held it there. Applejack was surprised, but didn’t pull away. Rainbow Dash turned her body, determined to show her parents that she was who she was. 
Her parents looked in shock as she continued kissing this mare that they had never met, right out in public to top it off. 
However, Rainbow had gotten caught in the moment and wasn’t relenting. She had forgotten that she was in front of her parents. She had forgotten that she was still outside in public up at Cloudsdale. She had forgotten mostly everything except for her lips dancing in sync with Applejack’s. 
“Dew!” 
Rainbow had her forelegs wrapped around Applejack at that point and she looked over at her parents, surprised at how into it she had gotten. 
“Stop it, Dew. We get that you’re trying to live on the edge and do what you’re doing for the shock factor, but you can stop it!” 
“Mom… I’m sorry about that, I forgot where I was. I really am in love with Applejack. It’s something that was brewing ever since I broke my wings. Yep, I broke them, in case you didn’t notice.” 
“Oh, Dew, I’m terribly sorry to hear about such an accident!” 
“I appreciate the sentiment, mom. But I realize that what I did might have looked like me being all defiant just to P-O you guys, but it wasn’t. I got caught up in the moment. I’m in love ma, and I’m in love with a mare!” 
“Oh, Dew, please don’t do this to us. Don’t tell us you’ve come back to rub this in our faces.” 
“Mom, I apologize. I’m not trying to rub it in your faces. I’m just here to tell you the news. Applejack and I started going out recently and I thought I should let you know. The way I’ve been telling you made me look like a jerk, I know. Please accept me for who I am, mom, dad, not for who you want me to be. That’s all I ask.” 
“Dew… I think we can do that, right, honey?” 
“Of course,” replied the father, who hadn’t spoken much. 
“Oh, and guys, I’m Rainbow Dash, now.” 
“Oh, I’m sorry, but I guess to us you’ll always be Dew, but we’ll try…Rainbow Dash.” 
“Thanks mom, thanks dad. I didn’t think you would like it.” 
“Dew… I mean, Rainbow, we just want you back.” 
“Well, the thing is, mum, my wings are broken. The only reason we’re both up here is because of a temporary cloudwalker spell that a friend cast on us. I, we, can’t stay up here. My wings are broken for the next couple months.” 
“Oh, I see, Rainbow.” 
“Mom, Dad… I think… I think I still love you guys.” 
“Oh, Dew!” 
Her mother flung herself once more around Rainbow, and as an additional surprise, so did her father. Rainbow looked at Applejack and smiled. She had achieved the impossible. She had survived the confrontation, even turning it into a positive outlook. 
“Uh, mom, dad, you can let go now. And I’m still Rainbow.” 
Her parents stood back up next to her. 
“Oh, yes, of course, Dew, I mean, Rainbow. You need your space.” 
“Mom, Dad, I’ll try and visit.” 
“Thank you, Rainbow. And thank you, Applejack, for capturing our Rainbow’s heart.” 
Applejack, who hadn’t said anything yet, replied,”It wasn’t intentional, but ah’m glad ah did.” 
“She’s a country mare. I’m staying at her place for the next couple months.” 
“Oh, how wonderful!” 
“Yeah, it is, ah reckun.” 
“Do treat our beloved Rainbow well, you hear?”Rainbow’s dad commented. 
“Don’t worry dad, if anyone would treat anypony well, it’s Applejack. She’s one of the most amazing ponies I’ve ever met.” 
“Well, shucks, Rainbow, ya don’t have ta say that,” Applejack said modestly. 
“It’s still true.” 
With that, Rainbow leaned in and planted a soft kiss against Applejack’s own lips and held them there tenderly for a moment, before breaking. 
“Hey, mom, dad, can I come in for a moment? I just want to come and check it out for a moment, check out my old room and stuff. Of course, I have my own house in Cloudsdale, but I want to check this place out again.” 
“Of course, Rainbow. Forgive us, we are sorry we didn’t invite you in, and we have to get to work. Do forgive us.” 
“Just go to work guys, I forgive you. Now if you don’t go, you’ll be late.” 
“Thank you, Rainbow. We’re very glad you came to see us. It’s amazing that we get to see our own daughter away. Of course, word got out that you had run away, so we knew nothing bad had happened to you, but we were still worried.” 
“Get going, guys. You’ll be late.” 
“We’ll see you at another time, Rainbow!” 
Her parents then flew off toward their work, and Rainbow led Applejack inside. Rainbow instinctively headed to her room. When she got inside, she smiled and her eyes watered at the brim. 
They had kept her room exactly the way it had been when Rainbow had left as a filly. Even her Wonderbolt’s costume was still in a heap on her bed. 
“Ah guess yer parents did really care about ya.” 
“Yeah, I guess they did. They just didn’t realize any of my wants and needs. Well, this is where I spent the first good while of my life.” 
“That was real nice of ya to forgive yer parents.” 
“I guess part of me was just being young and impulsive. I’m glad that I have a rainbow mane and a different, suitable name, so I don’t regret what I did. But I see all the sides of the argument, now.” 
“Ah always knew you had something deeper in ya.” 
“You sayin’ you didn’t like me on the surface?” Rainbow teased. 
“No, that’s not I was sayin’, ah jus—“ 
“Applejack, calm down, I was just kidding.” 
Rainbow then gave a kiss to Applejack to show that she really had just been teasing, and Applejack smiled. Rainbow could be a hassle sometimes, but Rainbow meant well. 
“Here are my Wonderbolt goggles, just like I left them. And my bed hasn’t changed one bit.” 
She picked up the Wonderbolt costume and set it on the floor, and lay down on her bed. Applejack lay next to her, and Rainbow wrapped her hooves around Applejack. 
“Applejack, you’re amazing.” 
Before Applejack could answer, Rainbow pressed her lips against Applejack’s. Applejack was ready this time, and was instantly reciprocating. Applejack then wrapped her hooves around Rainbow in return. Rainbow deepened the kiss and got more intense, rolling on top of Applejack. Applejack broke off to speak. 
“Wait, Rainbow, ah don’t want ta go too fast. We need to pace ourselves.” 
“I guess you’re right, Applejack. This is new to me, so this whole “love and kissing” thing is getting to me, I guess. It’s just… every day I want more and more of you. I suppose that’s a thing in this ‘couples handbook’ too.” 
Rainbow gave one small kiss to Applejack before getting off. She got up, as did Applejack. Rainbow was content with the nostalgia she had attained, so they left the house. As they walked through town, Rainbow posed a question. 
“Applejack, would you like to go on a date with me sometime?” 
Applejack answered without hesitation. “Yeah, ah’d love to.” 
“The Grand Galloping Gala’s coming up soon. Maybe we could go to that.” 
“Yeah, we could ask Twilight to ask for some tickets,” Applejack suggested 
“But we didn’t have quite a good time the last time we went,” Rainbow pointed out. 
“That’s alright; we’ll have each other this time, not our own little reasons.” 
“You’re right. Anyway, we should get back to that balloon.” 
“Yeah, we wouldn’t want to fall right through the clouds.” 
They headed off toward where they landed in Cloudsdale and surely enough, there waiting was the balloon that had taken them there, two guards protecting it. As always, they had non-changing stone faces. 
They walked into the balloon, smiling at each other. It was time to head back to Ponyville, however nice their short little while in Cloudsdale was. Ponyville was their true home, and they had ponies waiting for them to return, ponies who didn’t know that they were in Cloudsdale, even. So they nodded to the guards, who then got the balloon going, and they watched as the beautiful Equestrian scenery passed. They never had really appreciated how beautiful Equestria was. It was something new to them. Like love. 
They reached Ponyville and hopped out of the balloon, Twilight smiling at them as they landed in front of the library. 
“How’d it go?” 
“It went awesome! Turns out my parents had their own side of the little argument, too. We came to an understanding.” 
“Well, that’s great!” 
“By the way, Twilight, we’d like to ask you something.” 
“Fire away.” 
“We’d like to ask if you could ask the Princess for some tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala.” 
“Why do you ask?” 
“Applejack and I want to go on a date.”