Rainbow Dash stood in Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles' shrine to herself, among shelf upon shelf of medals and plaques, ribbons and trophies.

She turned to her parents. "These aren't mine."

Windy, grinning nervously, responded. "Sweetheart, of course they are. It's only natural you wouldn't remember every single one, but whose else's would they be?"

"Gee, I dunno." Rainbow took to the air and glanced over a single row of medals and plaques and ribbons and trophies. "Lessee. You really think I'd win, uh... first prize in a... ew, a pie-eating contest?"

"You tried a lot of things when you were little," Bow Hothoof said.

"How about this one?" Rainbow plucked a small, bronzed pony with a scroll in one hoof and a stetson in the other. "Grammar rodeo, head buckaroo? Sheesh, did Twilight and AJ have a kid together?" 

Windy fluffed her wings anxiously. "You were a very studious filly."

Rainbow looked flatly at her mother, replaced the trophy, and grabbed another one: a unicorn rearing up on a lacquered wooden base. Affixed to it was a nameplate reading "SUNSET SHIMMER: TOP TRANSMOGRIFIER."

Bow coughed. "You went through a phase?"

"I'm dumb, Dad, but not that dumb." Rainbow tossed Sunset's trophy to the ground and dropped down beside it. "Are [i]any[/i] of these even mine?"

"Some of them," Windy muttered. "Not most."

"Are you for real?!" Rainbow gritted her teeth and groaned loudly. "You're always talking about how proud you are of me, but you've got a – a fake trophy room set up, showin' off awards I never won, for stuff I never even did. Heck, you've got more awards than I've been in contests!" 

"Sweetheart––"

"Don't 'sweetheart' me,[i] [/i]Dad." Tears blurred Rainbow's vision. "Is the stuff I've done just not good enough for you? You gotta... [i]pretend [/i]I'm cooler than I am?"

Windy looked up, shocked and affronted. "Rainbow, you're everything we could've hoped for in a daughter!"

"And more," Bow added solemnly.

Rainbow's anger stalled. "Then why...?"

Windy looked to Bow, who gave a tiny nod of assent. She said, "Flight camp, when you were a filly, was not inexpensive. None of it was. The flying lessons, boarding school, the entry fee for the Best Young Fliers competition..." 

"Your home in Ponyville," said Bow.

"We took a lot of loans when you were little," said Windy. "Once you moved out, we pawned what we could to pay them back. You're popular enough for most of it to turn a profit. And once we paid off the debt, we bought cheap replacements so we could still have [i]something [/i]in here."

"We always figured you'd win new trophies to replace what we sold," Bow finished.

Rainbow took another look at the shelves – her eyes landed on a grainy, sepia snapshot of what looked like a sonic rainboom. "Nopony who came by ever noticed?"

"Nopony ever looked closely enough to tell," said Windy. "Even Scootaloo."

Rainbow rolled her eyes – she almost smiled, too. "You really took all those loans... for me? Why didn't you just say something?"

"Maybe we were ashamed," said Bow, his deep voice soft and trembling. "Maybe we cared too much about what you thought of us. Maybe we wanted you to be proud of us."

"As proud as we are of you," said Windy.

Rainbow took a deep breath that turned into a wet, staggered sniffle. She kicked off the ground, hovered to her parents, and pulled both into a hug.

"Sorry we didn't say anything," Bow said into Rainbow's mane.

"Don't––" Rainbow pulled away and wiped her eyes. "Don't say you're sorry. Who cares about trophies?"

"Thankfully, pawnbrokers and second-hoof shops," Bow said lightly.

"You know what I mean." Rainbow thumped her father's shoulder. "Awards don't matter. Glory's forever. I got plenty of that already. I'm just... I'm sorry for yelling at you. And for making you go through all that trouble."

"It was no trouble," Windy said. She kissed Rainbow's forehead. "You were always worth it, dear."

They fell into the hug again. Rainbow stroked her parents' wings with her on, nuzzling both of them in turn.

Then she frowned. "Scoots really didn't notice the difference?"

"Well..." Bow cleared his throat. "She noticed the Sunswhat Shimmer one." 

"Sunset Shimmer." Rainbow pulled back and looked quizzically at her parents. "What did she say about it?"

Windy smirked. "Having an alias and casting transmogrification magic 'adds to your mystique.'"

Rainbow rolled her eyes again. This time, she [i]did [/i]smile.