"It's a beautiful house," Fluttershy said shakily, her pupils were contracted with terror.

"Yeah." Rainbow pulled Fluttershy into a side hug with her wing. "Listen, I don't care what happens, I just want to - I want you to know that I..." She looked into Fluttershy's eyes. "I love you." The words fell out honest and true, messy and beautiful, for the first time.

Fluttershy's eyes grew big and wet. "You-you really mean that?"

"Of course I do."

"I love you too!"

Fluttershy thrust forward and snuggled her lips with Rainbow's in a passionate kiss that was much too short. Rainbow pushed away after only a few seconds, "Okay, we can make out later, after this. Deal?"

Fluttershy giggled, "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'm just so happy to hear you say you love me!" She squeal-hummed and squeezed Rainbow tight.

"Ah- ahhaha, Shy I forgot how strong you are. Really though, we gotta-," she pulled Fluttershy off, both of them smiling now, "gotta do this later."

Eventually, they composed themselves. Rainbow rang the doorbell and together they waited, Fluttershy standing behind her. They heard the chimes echo through the house.

The door opened to reveal a lavender-coated stallion with the same vibrant, rainbow mane as Rainbow Dash. He had golden eyes that smiled down at them; his cutie mark was somewhat similar to Rainbow's.

"Rainbow! Long time, no see!" he had a big, booming voice, friendly and warm.

"Hey Dad."

"You coming in or are you just gonna stand out here all day?"

Rainbow, stepping inside, pretended to yawn as she walked past, throwing out her left wing and bashing her dad in the face, "AHHHHHh, oops, sooooorrry daad."

"Oh yeah, soorrry Raaain," he threw out his own wing and flapped it a few times, hitting Rainbow in the head in a kind of play fight. They laughed good-naturedly at each other.

"Seriously, though," Rainbow said as she walked in, "we're actually here for a reason. Is Mom home?"

Rainbow's dad was about to walk in himself, when he noticed Fluttershy. Turning back to her, he said "Are you... Fluttershy?"

"Oh, um, yes, I am." She hid her face half behind her mane, hoping Rainbow would come back.

"Wow, you're so grown up! Do you remember me?"

"Um, well-"

Much to her relief, Rainbow came back to the door, "Hey dad, you remember Fluttershy, right?"

After everypony realized they all remembered who she was, Fluttershy came in and (at Rainbow's invitation) sat with Rainbow on the cloud couch while Rainbow's dad flew off to get Rainbow's mom.

"Rainbow, I'm sorry, what was your Dad's name again?"

"He'll probably let you call him Skittles, but right now you can just call him Mr. Dash. And my mom's name is Firefly, or Mrs. Dash."

"Ok, thank you."

Rainbow noticed how worried she was. "Don't worry, Shy, I'll do most of the talking."

Fluttershy nodded, "Thank you Rainbow. Sorry, I'm just really scared."

"It's okay," an audible shake wobbled in her voice, the tremor that fear adds to even the bravest of throats. "I'm worried too."

The two heard Skittles and another pony coming down the hall from way in the back of the house. Rainbow's mom sported a blue mane and tail, with a light pink coat, shinning purple eyes, and two blue lightning bolts for her cutie mark. They came in, and after saying hi and introducing Fluttershy as Rainbow's grown-up childhood friend, sat opposite in a love seat.

"So," Skittles said, breaking the ice, "what brings you two here?"

Rainbow swallowed and spoke up. "Well, I have something I, we, want to say. So, um. . .. You know, life can be complicated and take unexpected twists and turns. They can be good or bad, but we can't always avoid them. And sometimes it's unhealthy to avoid them. Because sometimes it's just part of who you are, no matter how hard you try to change. So when these things happen, how we deal with them can be... upsetting to some ponies. Some would say how we dealt with these, uh, things is wrong or disgusting. But we don't believe them... and we choose to believe what we think - know - is right, so. Yeah. No matter what everypony else thinks, we are sure in what we did, uh, do, and we just want to make sure that you know that. We're not asking for permission or forgiveness, we're asking that you accept us. And... and that's pretty much it."

"Uh...what?" Skittles' face was completely blank, "You lost me there."

Ms. Dash looked at them in confusion, "You... you did something wrong?"

Rainbow took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Mom, Dad, I know it might be hard for you to see me like this, but... I'm a-" her voice ran away from her, hiding in the shadows. "A... I'm gay. A lesbian."

Her parents sat slack-jawed. Skittles scotched up in his seat, "So - so you're," he pointed a hoof at Fluttershy, "You're her-"

For the first time, Fluttershy spoke up. Timidly, keeping her head down, "I'm her girlfriend."

For a moment, they all sat there in silence. Then Firefly spoke up. "Well, I think I'm okay with this." Turning to her husband, "Are you?"

Skittles shook his head vigorously, "Uh. Yeah, I guess I am. I mean, I had no idea-"

"You are!?" Rainbow shot off the couch, tears brimming in her eyes, "Thank you thank you thank you," she zoomed right over to them and tackle-hugged them both. "I was so afraid, I thought you might hate me an-and-"

"Rain," Skittles sad, smiling, "You're crying."

Rainbow sniffed and pushed him away playfully. "A-am not!"

They talked and visited for a couple hours, talking and laughing, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash not even trying to hide their smiles. Firefly turned out to be a lot like her husband, whose real name turned out to be Thundercloud. Fluttershy had started out hiding in the shadows, even though she remembered Rainbow's parents from when she had visited Rainbow's house when they were both little, but came out of her shell enough to actually enjoy the time they were all having. She talked about her animals and flowers and friends back home, talked about how the connection between Rainbow and herself had started, talked and talked and talked and actually, uncharacteristically, enjoyed it.

"I like your parents, Rainbow." Fluttershy said as they left, nearly two hours after they had arrived. "They seem like such nice ponies."

"Yeah. As you can see, my awesomeness has rubbed off on them."

They both laughed at this. They flew to a local cafe for a late lunch, and there Rainbow talked about how scared she was that they wouldn't accept her; how glad she was that they did. They finished eating at around three o'clock.

"So," Rainbow said as they walked away from the restaurant, "We going to your parent's place next?"

Fluttershy thought about it for a moment. "I think I only want to tell my mom right now."

"Oh, uh, alright. Where does she live?"

"Well... you'll see."

Before they left, they stopped by a flower shop. Not many flowers grow in could, and the selection of ground flowers was limited. Rainbow thought it rather odd, but didn't say anything. When they were growing up, Shy had hardly ever talked about her parents. Several times Rainbow had attempted to breach the subject, but she never got very far. And not once had she ever met them.

Flowers in mouth, they flew down to the ground. This also struck Rainbow as strange, but again she decided to wait. There was a small, small little town there. Just a few things were built: a well, two or three houses, and a couple places that collected ground resources for the pegasi above. Stuff that is hard or impossible to get in the clouds, like flowers. The biggest thing there, and it was huge, was a cemetery.

The pegasi had had trouble in the past with corpses falling out of the cloud floors of mausoleums. As the bodies decomposed, the magic in them faded enough that the clouds could no longer hold them. It was a pretty sickening sight to see bodies randomly fall out of a floor, especially if that floor happened to be above you. Many ponies switched to cremation, but not everypony wanted to be burnt. So a proper cemetery had been started on the ground below, many years ago. Erect stones stood like sentinels, guarding the dead for what seemed like miles; they stretched nearly out of sight, way off into the distance, spanning hundreds of years. And then Rainbow finally understood.

"Fluttershy, is your mom..?"

"Yes." She said it without sadness, completely accepting.

"Oh," was all Rainbow could say.

They walked through the headstones for a little while, without talking. Rainbow was surprised at how completely un-phased Fluttershy was. Then, after only a little while, they stopped at a stone that looked to be only about fifteen years old. Engraved on it was the name "Posey Faintheart."

Fluttershy sat down facing it. She laid the flowers down carefully on the grass. "Hello, Mom. I brought flowers for you."

"Fluttershy, you never told me your mom was dead. Or that your last name is Faintheart."

She motioned for her to sit down next to her. Once she did, "I don't use my last name much, sorry. You must have heard it before, but I guess I just never thought to tell anypony else what it was." She sighed, showing a hint of sadness. "And I kept my mom a secret, well, just because I know all of our friends already know how weak I am. I don't want to give them another reason to... to pity me."

"Wow. I mean...," on the one hoof, Rainbow was vexed she had kept such a big thing locked up for so long. On the other, she understood why she had done it. "I...."

"It's okay, Rainbow." She stretched out her wing and laid it over Rainbow Dash. Turning back to the headstone, "I know this isn't quite what you would have expected, but Rainbow and I are in love. I know you'd be glad I'm happy, no matter who it was. Even if it is a mare. Even if I am a lesbian, you'd still love me."

They were quiet for a while. Rainbow couldn't get over the fact that they were sitting on top of Fluttershy's dead mom. It was deeply sobering. And surprising.

Fluttershy was always happy to see her mom, she said. They talked a little, and she confided in Rainbow how she came to the large cemetery of Clouds Dale about once a month and told her mom what had happened over the last few weeks. How she had had a long time - Posey died when she was young - to come to peace with the matter.

Before they left, Fluttershy hugged the headstone and made sure the flowers still looked pretty. She said softly, to the stone, "Goodbye, Mom. I'll see you later." She turned to Rainbow, and said, "I'm sorry if this is putting you out of your comfort zone. We can leave now."

"Yeah, uh, it's okay. Goodbye, Ms. Faintheart."

They started away, flying back up to the cloud city above. "We're going to your dad's next, right?" Rainbow asked.

"No," Fluttershy said, "I think I need to tell him later. I might write him a letter."

"Oh, alright."

The return flight to Ponyville was much quieter than the flight to Clouds Dale. They still had to stop every now and then to let Fluttershy rest. They sat next to each other, on each pit-stop they made, if Rainbow wasn't flying for the fun of it. Fluttershy would land and let her wings droop down. Then Rainbow would come in, out of the air or the other side of the cloud, and scoop her up into a hug. They would fall to the cloud and Rainbow would hold her from behind, putting her wing and foreleg over her. It was still magic for them both, every little touch they took.

On one of those clouds, cuddling with her muzzle buried in a sea of delicate pink hair, Rainbow said, "You know, Faintheart really is a beautiful name. Fluttershy Faintheart. Yeah, I like that."

Fluttershy giggled, "Thank you."

"I mean, it can't beat Rainbow Dash or anything, but I like it."

When they finally reached Ponyville, the sun was setting. Before they headed off to their separate homes, they stopped at a restaurant to eat. Hay fries, daisy sandwiches, and lily soup aside, Rainbow escorted Fluttershy home.

At her cottage, standing in the doorway, Fluttershy said, "Well, it was a lovely day, Rainbow."

"Yeah, it was, wasn't it? I'm so glad my dad was okay with it all."

"I am too; your parents are really fun. I can see where you get your rambunctious attitude."

"Oh, I'm sorry, didn't you mean pure awesomeness?"

Fluttershy giggled, "Yes."

They leaned in and kissed. A proper kiss, with heat and passion, and tongue. When they came back down to earth, their faces were flushed and steamy.

They breathed together for a moment, until Shy finally said, "Well. Good night Rainbow. I love you."

"Love you too, Shy."

In a daze, Fluttershy slowly closed the door. Rainbow started to walk off, head still to Flutteshy. She only got ten steps before she stopped. There, just two feet in front of her, a shocked Twilight stood with a gaping mouth. She had seen it all.

"Oh, uh, umm, hey Twilight."

"YOU.... An-and HER-"

"Twilight, those aren't sentences, sorry. So if that's all, I'll just be go-"

"RAINBOW!"

"Rainbow? Where? Can there be rainbows at nigh-"

"AND FLUTTERSHY!"

"Well good talk Twilight, goodbye!" Rainbow managed a powerful takeoff, but almost instantly Twilight had her pinned to the ground with her magic.

"Rainbow what was that?!"

"Mhmhmm,"SPLUFTHFTH and out went the dirt from Rainbow's mouth, "That was a pretty speedy takeoff if I do say so-"

"Between you and Fluttershy!" Twilight's eyes were bulging, but Rainbow couldn't tell if it was form anger or shock or both. "You kissed her! Passionately!"

"Yeah, and it was pretty dang nice." Twilight looked suddenly repulsed, and now Rainbow was scared again.

"So... so you are a.... You're gay."

"Yes, I am." Rainbow struggled up and took an aggressively defensive pose, "Why?"

"I just... you just never seemed-"

"Never seemed what, Twilight?" Twilight took a step back. This was the moment Rainbow had been dreading and rehearsing in her mind for weeks, and suddenly every insecurity and anger at every imagined insult came pouring out of her, "Never seemed disgusting? Never seemed sex-crazed? Never seemed like something out of the ordinary, never seemed to be the type to-to be so disgusting, right? I bet you never thought I would end up one of those gutter fags, one of those dykes right? Well guess what, I am! And yeah, I like Flutter-, no I love Fluttershy! And, and no matter what I, I..."

"Rainbow, that's not-"

"Oh yeah? Then why are you backing up? Are you afraid I'll corrupt you or something? Oh, better look out, here comes the lesbian. Better hide or you'll become a slut like her!" Tears were streaming down her face now, hot and bitter, biting the dust at her hooves as Twilight watched helplessly. "Don't let her touch you or you'll get molested! Don't look at her and maybe she'll go be queer somewhere else, the worthless bitch!"

"Rainbow, that's not what I meant. I mean. It just. I'm just surprised. Is all." But she still stepped back as Rainbow stepped closer.

"Really? Then stop stepping away like I'm a leper!"

"Rainbow you're not a lep-"

"This is why I hadn't told you yet Twilight. I knew you'd treat me differently, like I'm some kind of freak." She turned around and started forcefully down the path. "Don't follow me."

But Twilight did. She swallowed, grimaced, and trotted right up next to her. "I don't think you're a freak. Look!" To prove it, she summoned up all of her courage and placed a wing and a foreleg across Rainbow's shoulders. On any other occasion it would have been completely normal.

Rainbow stopped and sniffed. "See?" Twilight said, drawing her closer into a side-hug, painfully aware of Rainbow's warm body against her own. Now so foreign when once so familiar. "I'm fine with it, really I am."

Rainbow looked at Twilight with wet eyes, still angry on the inside. Still on fire. She collapsed onto the ground in a sitting position. "...sorry."

"It... it's okay."

"I guess I overreacted. I've just been so ready for.... For that. For being outcast."

"Yeah. I'm, uh, sorry. But I can't believe you haven't told me! You two must have been dating for at least a couple months by now!"

"How did you..?"

"Well, you might kiss somepony on the first date, but Fluttershy sure wouldn't. And that kiss I saw wasn't all you, it was her too. So you two must have been dating for a while. And she leaned into it like it was familiar, so it must have been longer than just a week or two."

"Yeah. Like a little over a year by now."

"Why haven't you told us? Oh."

Rainbow pulled into a little log on the ground; stared at the dirt. "Just scared I guess."

They were quiet for a moment. Then Rainbow said, "Look, Twilight, I'm sorry I snapped at you but it's been a long day and I'm tired. Can we talk about this later?"

"Tomorrow."

"Sure. Bye, Twilight."

"Goodnight, Rainbow."

And with that Rainbow Dash flew slowly home. Tomorrow, she knew, was going to suck.

SHAZAM!!