@Phantom Rider
Wade, not cool.

@TexasUberAlles  
Well, he complained about comparing probles, I complain about making big deal from not really big problems. I mean - did Apple Bloom cry like that when she said goodbye to Babs Seed? Also not to mention that Rainbow Dash felt off-character in this episode.

@Unraveler  
What does that have to do with the Apple Parents clearly having been dead for several years?

@headlessrainbow  
What about whining over someone who just goes on vacation for a few months?

I know it’s a joke, bu the concept that one person’s problems don’t matter at all because someone else has a bigger problem really annoys me.

@Background Pony #E22B  
At least it was confirmed… I mean, it was pretty obvious, since they live with their “Granny” Smith.

Oddly enough, this just got confirmed…..
 
Which is freaking depressing…..
 
Poor AJ. And Big Mac. And Apple Bloom.

Surprise twist: Granny Smith’s parents are alive.

@icesticker  
Good point. My point remains though >.<

@Raiinbow Dash  
@Raiinbow Dash  

 
That is not what she said she would deny. She said she would deny admitting she was afraid of the ghost stories she told when she was a filly.

@Background Pony #99B3  
Very good point. Though, if it was a death of her father wouldn’t her mother then take custody? She might take after her father, her boisterousness/aggressiveness and then may start to grate against her mother, especially if there was a case of her being neglectful/abusive which may have caused the separation/divorce. Her possible connection to her father and his could be death, her “could be distant, or even unknown” relationship with her mother and possible personality clash could cause some bad blood. Although this is pretty headcanon-y. Compared to AJ, who seems to rather wall up and steel herself, RD goes on the offensive.
 
I understand what you said about Fluttershy, though I admit that I don’t think I fully agree. It’s clear she’s gotten better with interaction though 5 seasons but there isn’t enough evidence that pilot FS would end up being comfortable surrounded by persons “over time”. In fact, there are just too large a gap in the childhood timeline (for all the Mane 6, actually) to know how was her development and her mental state up until the pilot. In any case, I probably should’ve added that there was quite probable that FS parents were active in the negative repercussions of her mental state more than just not being supportive.
 
@Unraveler  
We have a tag called ‘discussion in the comments’.

@Background Pony #99B3  

@Unraveler  
Doesn’t ‘drama in the comments’ imply arguments and hostility? Currently were just exchanging theories and thinking about them evenly.

How many more comments until the “drama in the comments” tag will be added?

@drumpowa  
I also considered that about Fluttershy, but her deeper fear behind her stage fright, plus her normal fear, her repression and the way she lives, seems to suggest a more complicated situation. She doesn’t fear a person or even a large amount of ‘persons’ after a while, but the idea of groups of ‘people’ staring at her AND focusing on her triggers enormous amounts of fear.
 
Does that make sense? She doesn’t seem to mind anymore being in front of a large amount of people so long as people aren’t focusing on her. Another thing they emphasized in Rainbow Rocks. That’s not average stage fright, that’s closer to paranoia. Its as if she expects to judged or even abused like a monster by the masses if they focus too much on her, while if she performs without being the focus, it doesn’t really bother her anymore if some judge her performance. “Paranoia of the masses” seems to be what she displays the most, and helps explain the roots of her other issues, but I’m not sure if a normal family issue could develop something like that.
 
Why don’t I think RD is a latch key? For one thing, in RD’s flashback with her father, it showed she had a rather strong bond with him. The idea of him being absent in the latch key sense as the way she remembers him strikes me as an odd ploy after that.
 
Also charachter-wise, it doesn’t seem to fit. The separation anxiety that latchkey kids experiance over time comes from extended time in this state, leading both negative and positive effects and emotions to be somewhat reserved. The kind of abandonment issues RD displays are not only very intense, they are completely heart-on-her-sleeve type of reactions. Sure she hides her weaknesses, but often with bravado and a strong will, not by reserving her emotions. Plus a lack of connection with a latchkey father would be hard to explain how her incredibly alpha personality developed. Even if she idolized her father while remaining very separate from each other, which would be difficult to explain, I don’t see how a latchkey situation would make much sense for everything about Dash.

@Background Pony #99B3  
The only bit of info of FS childhood is how she was picked on by all the kids due to her “less than optimal flying”. If her parents weren’t supportive here or at all this could be why she such a wreck when we were first introduced to her.
 
Could you give me sources as to how it isn’t likely RD wasn’t a latch key? In my mind I would think that if her parents or single parent was gone all day, it would at least affect her with the separation anxiety that she has.

“Hey, cheer up, Rainbow Dash, it’s not like your PARENTS ARE DEAD or anything!”  
TS: “…Fluttershy, that was the most insensitive thing I have heard all day.”

@Background Pony #B700  
TOTALLY MEANS HER PARENTS ARE DEAD  
@Background Pony #ADC3  
Lauren also doesn’t work on MLP anymore  
Sibsy storyboarded Apple Family Reunion, and she says the two shooting stars were specifically meant to reference AJ’s parents being dead.

@drumpowa  
The first one doesn’t seem likely given what we were shown.
 
As for the second one, a line from the comics does make that possibility a little suspect, but it still begs the question of where is RD’s father now. Heck, we don’t even even know if RD knew her mother, Rainbowshine is simply a common background pony afterall.
 
Her persona most closely matches that of a girl raised by a single dad, then lost her father fairly early on. That’s what matches the most markers, but of course it could be something slightly or significantly different. However, with RD’s story theme, they’re definitely not going to go “LOL, RD’s parents? They’re super supportive and visit her all the time. We just never showed them supporting Dash cause we didn’t think they were important.” That wouldn’t make the least bit of sense with what we know of Dash.
 
TBH, its Fluttershy’s childhood that confuses me the most. I feel like were missing not just a few sources, but a huge chunk of her life unexplained to make up her childhood, and current personality and issues.

@Background Pony #99B3  
Maybe she was a latchkey kid? Or experienced her parents getting separated/divorced and lived with her father causing such issues. Could that be an option?

@Background Pony #075B  
@Raiinbow Dash  
Let me rephase my question…
 
Has their been any evidence that leads us to believe she has not lost her parents?
 
She’s demonstrated extreme abandonment and loss issues in at least 3 episodes now, The Last Roundup, Games Ponies Play, and Tanks for the Memories. She is shown to be a very public athlete, yet her parents are completely removed from the picture, despite her strong connection to them in her flashback compared to the supportive but distant route Twilight and Rarity’s parents have. The show has already proved to be not beyond having characters with obviously non-living parents like AJ. And the trope revolving around Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo remains unsubverted in almost all fiction, and personal headcanons based on zero don’t usually subvert it.
 
Keep in mind, issue dodging is not a real argument. Your attempts to piece apart my earlier argument with speculation and non-definitive facts, yet not lending any evidence or even justification to your own headcanon, come across as a little desperate.
 
In other words, I’m not asking for proof that her parents are dead, I know I can’t prove that…
 
Based on her persona, her issues, and the tropes surrounding her, is their any reason at all to believe that her parents are alive in the present? If you think the things I’ve listed are irrelevant, that’s fine, that opinion is no more relevant to anyone else. What I am asking is if you have any basis of what we know of RD to think she has living parents now?

Applejack slaps your syay from the inside.

@Background Pony #99B3  
My basis is the fact that the last time we saw her father, he was alive, and nothing has happened since then to indicate that he has died, and I find the explanations you provided to be rather specious.  
S3E12 made it quite clear that Rainbow was so dedicated to helping the Crystal Ponies because she knew the heartbreak of one’s hometown being denied the chance to host the Games. Zero connection was made between that feeling and her father; his only role in that flashback (and by extension, the entire episode) was that he was standing near Rainbow Dash when she heard the news. That’s it. No other mention was made of him, nor was he alluded to. She even explains it quite clearly at the climax, and I quote:  
Rainbow Dash: “When I was a little filly, I wanted so badly for Cloudsdale to win the Equestria Games. But it didn’t happen. So I thought I could make up for that disappointment by helping the Crystal Empire win the chance to host the Games. But it looks like I ruined your chances instead.”  
Furthermore, she took Scootaloo under her wing because it was made pretty damn obvious in that last scene just how much it meant to her, and since RD isn’t a jerk (or, at least, hasn’t been in quite a while), she wasn’t going to just say “No, screw you kid, leave me alone”. Of course she would want help out her biggest fan if it meant that much to her.

@Background Pony #99B3  
they’re*