"I just... can't seem to re-grasp how I was doing it..."

In the Golden Oaks Library, Twilight had invited Zephyr over to see if he couldn't show-off his wind magic in a less hostile environment. She figured that learning how he was using it would give more insight on how Falconites of the past might have lived or used their magic.

It wasn't going well. Due to how hazy those memories were for Zephyr, he had severe difficulty trying to use the magic. Even when he could use it, the extent was pitiful balls of wind or tiny updrafts that felt like a refreshing breeze rather than a storm that could throw somepony around. Worse yet, he was back to the point where if he tries to brute-force it, his secondary wing feathers fall off and crumble to dust.

Twilight frowned as she reviewed her notes. "With the way our session is going, your capabilities on that day are beginning to look more like an example of Hysterical Strength."

"I've... never heard of it." Zephyr looks at Spike, who shakes his head as well.

"Honestly, I only JUST learned of it myself beforehoof. It describes a phenomenon where ponies exhibit greater strength, either physical or magical, beyond their normal measure in life-or-death situations. Most examples seem to be family protecting family or close friends fighting off creatures they'd normally lose against." Twilight frowns as she looks through a book. "It only lasts for a short while before it gives out... though there's no definitive time limit for how long it lasts either."

Zephyr looks at the small ball of wind he had conjured in his hoof with a sigh. "I suppose the best I can do is just keep practicing until I can recall the feeling. Still, the fact I can even do it at all is probably progress in and of itself."

"Certainly! I get the feeling Princess Celestia would be interested in it as well so I'll send updates on your progress when you make some. For now, I think that's enough for today... maybe even the week if the issue is your magic reserves haven't fully recovered."

"Alright, call me over when you want me to try again. Best to keep this practice in a secure environment after all."

Zephyr waves to Twilight and Spike as he exits the library and heads home, wanting to take a quick nap. When he entered, he was surprised to see not only his parents but Rainbow Dash there as well. "Welcome home, Zephyr!"

"Mom? Dad? When did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago. We were having a lovely chat with your girlfriend!" Harpsong giggles as Rainbow blushes and looks away with a pout.

Zephyr sits down on the sofa next to Rainbow. "What were you discussing?"

"Just the fact that you all celebrated a wedding in Canterlot. Medi and I already had a more private one as to not induce 'wedding-fatigue' in you foals."

That got an exasperated look from her now step-son. "'Wedding-fatigue' nothing, I still wanted to attend your wedding!"

"Told you he would've wanted to attend, Harp." Medishy sighed as he shakes his head. "I suppose the timing of our wedding could've been better as well, though."

"Thing is, we just wanted a more private wedding rather than anything extravagant. Just us, the wedding pastor, and the pictures of our previous loves to show that, while we've moved on to new loves, we'll never forget them."

Rainbow couldn't help but smile at Medishy at that. "I'm glad you're moving forward with your life. I think you took Barricade's death harder than Fluttershy did, so seeing you heal from it makes me somehow proud of you." Rainbow remembered something else. "Right! I also told them about how you're potentially a Falconite."

"Oh yeah, Princess Celestia said she's changing my race from Pegasus to Falconite in light of findings from various sources."

"I guess it explains why that DNA test couldn't properly identify you as a Pegasus. Ah, but where's my mind today?" Harpsong suddenly remembered what she wanted to ask now that her son and his girlfriend have gathered together. "I was thinking the 4 of us could go see Rainbow Dash's parents now that we--"

"NO!" Rainbow outburst, only to recoil and clear her throat. "I-I mean, they're rather busy ponies s-so I'd think--"

Medishy shook his head despondently. "Rainbow, I know you find your parent's support overindulgent but... you do realize it's because they love you dearly, right?"

"Could have fooled me... sometimes I feel more like a trophy than a pony when I'm around them..."

"Rainbow..." Zephyr didn't know what to say about the situation. It made him realize that not everypony was going to have the same family dynamic his does, but he also didn't want to leave it alone. "I think we should still go. Me and my parents will be there for you in case you feel things get out of hoof, alright?" That got nods from Harpsong and Medi.

"But... how come you want to meet my parents so badly? Isn't my consent enough?"

"Certainly you have final say whether or not you'll be with me, but you should know by now that I value family deeply. It doesn't feel right to me that you have this schism going on and I want to get along with your side of the branch, so to speak." He thought about it more. "Actually, I feel it's doubly important BECAUSE dad mentioned they genuinely love you. If they were actually horribly abusive then I wouldn't care about their approval or opinion."

When Rainbow still looked unwilling, Harpsong put a hoof on hers. "Let's look at it this way. We can find out together just why they're so overindulgent with you. While the truth might hurt, you need that closure if you don't want to be haunted by regret later in your life. Remember, you won't be doing this alone."

When Rainbow looked a Harpsong's motherly smile, it flashed her back to when she did have a good relationship with her parents as a filly. It took all her willpower not to start crying. "Alright... if you're certain you can get to the root of it all, maybe I'll try to understand them. I can't make any promises on amendments, though."

"As long as you're willing to try, that's all we ask." Medishy always wanted to help Rainbow reconcile with her parents, but felt too weak-willed to help. His new wife, on the other hoof, seems to be sharing her stronger will to help him push forward.

Letting out a sigh, Rainbow motioned the family to follow her. She led them all the way to Cloudsdale to a more 'ritzy' section of the residential district. "Medishy already knew, but my parents were... rather well off due to being big-shots in the weather managing business. When I moved to Ponyville, they were the ones who had my house built. It's... part of the reason why I thought they were--"

Harpsong puts a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder as they landed in front of one particular house. "I understand, but make sure you properly air your grievances with them as well. I don't know how you dealt with them before, but I have a hunch that you're just bottling everything up. For now, let's meet them."

With some hesitation, Rainbow knocks on the door. Not long after, a Pegasus mare with a light-blue coat, orange mane, and cerise-colored eyes answered the door. "Yes, who is-- Rainbow Dash! I'm so happy to see you!"

"H-hi mom..." Rainbow barely got that out when she started getting squeezed in a hug.

"Honey, did you say Rainbow Dash?!" Another Pegasus, a stallion with grayish-blue coat and a rainbow mane like his daughter, rushed to the door. "It is you! It's been so long since you last visited!"

Zephyr, seeing his girlfriend already getting overwhelmed, broke the hugs up with his wings. "Alright I get it's been a while since you last saw your daughter but please refrain from smothering her. It already took a great deal of convincing to get her here, please don't make her regret it." I can tell they really are her parents based on appearance alone. Rainbow got her dad's mane colors and her mom's coat and eye colors.

"Ah... ahaha, our apologies to Rainbow's guests and Medishy. Forgive the late introductions. I'm Windy Whistles and this is my husband Bow Hothoof. A pleasure to make your acquaintances."

"Zephyr Windstorm. The pleasure is mine." He bows using his right primary wing.

"I'm Zephyr's adoptive and now step-mother and Medishy's newly-wed wife, Harpsong Earthwing. Pleased to meet you!"

Harpsong's description confused the two as Bow looked at Medishy. "Zephyr's step-mom? Medishy, I thought Fluttershy was your only foal?"

"For the longest time, she was but... in truth, I also had a colt and he was lost to us long before we ever met. He is Fluttershy's biological brother!"

Windy couldn't help but squee. "That's so lovely! I'm sure Fluttershy has been happy to have an older brother... but what is his relationship with our Rainbow Dash?"

"I'm her boyfriend." Zephyr made sure to hug Rainbow close with those words, getting a blushed pout out of her. Both recoiled when they saw Windy and Bow with the biggest smiles they've ever seen before.

Harpsong knew what was coming and made sure to clear her throat loudly. "As elated as you are, outside is not the place for such discussions. May we please reconvene inside your house?" Despite barely containing their excitement, the two stepped to the sides to let everypony else in.

Once everypony was sat down around the table, Rainbow's parents started pelting the two with overly enthusiastic questions. It included, but not limited to, how they met, where they first fell for each other, have they kissed, so on and so forth. Bow even suggested taking a photo to commemorate "Rainbow's first boyfriend".

Eventually, Zephyr got fed up. "ENOUGH!" Bow and Windy looked stunned at Zephyr's volume. "Look, while I wanted to meet my girlfriends family, I would have listened to Rainbow Dash if I knew this is how it would've gone! Can't you see or hear just HOW overindulgent you are?!"

After getting the ringing out of her ears, Rainbow glared at her parents. "Times like this is the reason why I don't ever visit! It's always the same with you two, never letting me stand on my own and constantly showering me with praise in the most asinine ways possible! You think EVERY LITTLE THING I do is worth a trophy! Do you really think you're doing right by me like this?!"

Bow and Windy looked at each other with worried looks while Medishy looked at Harpsong, who had her eyes closed. "I can tell you two love your daughter very much, take it from a fellow parent. But you two are far too excessive with showing it to the point I'm wondering if there's some underlying issue between you." Harpsong opens her eyes. "Haven't either of you heard the saying 'too much of a good thing can become a bad thing'?"

Zephyr thought about it. "I suppose an example would be medicine. It's meant to cure, but take it improperly or too much and it could turn to poison. The way you love and show affection is just like that."

"The example I would have gone with is sugar, but that works too." Harpsong shakes her head. "If you really do love your daughter, sometimes the best way to show it is to give her room to breath and grow. Tell me and tell me true. Why is it that you think this extreme level of love is a good idea?"

"T-that's because w-we love her very much and--"

"Please don't dodge the question like that because your daughter needs answers. She's not showing it, but the fact she's driven away from you two by how overindulgent you are hurts her just as much as it hurts you." Rainbow looks at Harpsong in shock while Zephyr mentally commended his mom on her keen observational skills again. "She needs to know the truth or she'll have to live with cutting her parents out of her life for no good reason. Do you really want that? Do you really want her to cut off her only family in all of Equestria?"

After a moment of silence, Bow opened his eyes with grim determination. "Dear... I think it's time to tell Rainbow Dash." Windy gives her husband a horrified look. "The fact it took an outside family... no, her boyfriend's family to get us to see just how much we've been driving away our daughter despite our good intentions. It shames me to realize it... but the pain of never seeing my daughter again is too much for me to bear."

"Tell... tell me what? A-am I adopted like Zephyr was by Harpsong?"

"Not at all. You are very much our biological child. But... we avoided telling you the circumstances of your birth because we felt you owed us nothing. That telling you would make you feel obligated to us or force you to interact with us in an unnatural way."

Windy, knowing the subject could no longer be avoided, let out a sigh. "It's because... you're our miracle baby, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow and Zephyr look at each other in confusion, but Harpsong grimaced and Medishy looked horrified. "Windy... Bow... d-don't tell me R-Rainbow was... was supposed to have..."

Windy nods with a solemn look on her face now. "We tried to conceive foals for a long time... to the point we thought one or both of us were sterile. But when I finally became pregnant and gave birth... the baby was stillborn."

Now everypony, including Rainbow, looked devastated as Bow shook his head. "It broke us to see what could have been a bright cheery foal... gone before she even had a chance at life. It was to the point that, between prior troubles and now that, we had considered giving up becoming parents. It was only by Windy's whim one day... that Rainbow Dash was born."

"I... I could of had an older sister..?"

Windy went around the table and hugged her daughter. "I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash... you had to endure twice the love and affection because we believed you a miracle. That you endured all the love meant for your stillborn sister on top of what you would've gotten already. Yet... for all we have done, all it did was push you away..." Bow joined his wife in hugging his daughter, tears in his eyes.

"Mom... dad... I'm sorry... I... I took everything you did for me for granted and even thought it was unnecessary and I... I..." Rainbow couldn't hold back her tears anymore as she returned the hugs.

Harpsong and Medishy smiled at the scene of Rainbow reconciling with her parents, with Harpsong quickly snapping a picture with a nearby camera, before feeling Zephyr's hooves on theirs. "Mom, dad. Thank you. If It was just me... I think I would have made the wedge even worse..."

"You can be insightful when you want to be, Zephyr. Your issue is that you get too passionate to properly convey certain points." Harpsong smiles at her son. "Nopony is perfect. To presume yourself so is not only the true height of arrogance, but also implies you have nothing left to build of yourself."

Medishy chuckled. "I remember a coworker in the Weather Factory who was obsessed with efficiency. When I inquired about it to him and asked why he wanted greatness instead of perfection, he said "Never perfection. Perfection is a goal that always changes, always moves. You can chase but you cannot catch. Yet it is in that chase where we find value and meaning in both work and life"."

"Sounds like a quote Twilight needs to hear." The three share a chuckle as they continue to watch Rainbow reconcile with her parents.

After some time, Bow brought out a scrapbook. "Did you ponies want to see everything Rainbow has done throughout her life? I'll try to avoid embarrassing my daughter too much."

"Dad, really? We just got done with our sappy moment, you're going to ruin it!"

Harpsong giggles at that. "No worries, Rainbow Dash. I'll just bring out Zephyr's scrapbook and embarrass him in front of you later!"

"MOM!" That got a laugh out of everypony.

Despite initial objections, Rainbow joined in going through the scrapbook her parents made with everypony present. As they went through it, she recalled the memories where her parents did their best to support her as a filly. The longer it went on the more she realized her parents truly did love her as a pony, they were just being overzealous about it.

Eventually they stumbled upon a blank page. Windy smiles at her daughter. "As much as we'll try and hold back on rewarding or commemorating every little thing from here on... I think your relationship with Zephyr should still go here. He's your first boyfriend, after all, and that's a major milestone for any mare!"

"Oh... fine. Only if Zephyr agrees to it."

"When did you need my permission?" Zephyr gives his now pouting girlfriend a cheeky smile before surprising her with a kiss. Windy quickly took the photo as both her and Bow smiled tearfully at the sight. They were no longer tears of sadness but tears of joy at seeing the mare their daughter grew up to be.

Medishy patted Rainbow on the shoulder. "I know it'll take time for these kinds of wounds to heal, but be sure to give your parents a visit every once in a while. I'm sure they'll appreciate it."

"I've... been kinda bad on that front myself." Zephyr looked away for a guilty look. "I can't even say I was too busy to, either..."

"Life happens and things slip through the mind." Bow put that out as he smiles at Zephyr's family. "Hey, how about a group photo? Not just for Rainbow but for both our families!"

"We'd need to get Shy and Scoots in here as well then! I'm sure those two would love to meet you!"

Rainbow grins at the idea. "Break it to Squirt gently, would ya? She might go crazy if she meets my parents." Zephyr rolls his eyes at that as the two run out the house to gather the two missing family members.

Windy took the time to approach Harpsong while their foals were out. "Thank you so much, Harpsong! It pains me to wonder just how long it could have been before we finally reconciled with our daughter."

"It was no problem because you DID genuinely love her. I'm pretty sure on what I would have done if you two were actually abusive." Windy and Bow shutter at the implied threat before Harpsong laughed. "I'm not trying to threaten you because that wasn't the scenario."

Medishy looks at his wife. "What... would you have done?"

"Well, certainly I would have either taken or kept her away from such awful parents as soon as I could. Every foal deserves a parent but not every parent deserves a foal, as one of my band mates said once. Even if said parents tried to come after me for 'foalnapping', I've worked enough around law enforcement to drag them to court of need be."

"Quite the mother-in-law Rainbow will have if she gets married to Zephyr, huh?" Bow couldn't help but say that, causing everypony to laugh.

"DO I REALLY GET TO MEET RAINBOW DASH'S PARENTS?!"

"And here comes trouble." Harpsong giggles as she goes to the front door to receive her adoptive daughter.

After some additional introductions, as well as Fluttershy expressing relief that Rainbow Dash reconciled with her parents, they got together for a big photo. Zephyr and Rainbow were in the center holding hooves with Bow and Windy on her side and everypony else on Zephyr's side. Scootaloo made sure to plant herself between Rainbow and Zephyr.

In the end, 3 new pictures were added to the scrap book owned by Rainbow Dash's parents that day. One with Zephyr kissing Rainbow captioned "First Boyfriend", the picture of Rainbow hugging her parents called "Reconciliation", and the picture with both families in it that reads "Our Family Grows".

Author's Note

I'm aware that Rainbow Dash's parents show up MUCH further down the line. Owing to the fact that she's in a relationship with Zephyr and how much he values family, it became something they wanted to nip in the bud as soon as possible.