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// Not a Chapter: Recap 
// Story: And the Heart Beats On 
// by LunarShadow 
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Recap




        Okay, this is just a short, quick guide to what’s happened in each chapter of “Heart’s Desire”. This will contain spoilers. This will tell you if the mirror was moved, where it was moved, how any given pony stumbled across it, and what they saw. Do not read this if you’re a new reader unless you really want to just skip chapters all together. If you do not read this, but do not want to read previous chapters, it is highly recommended that you read chapters 1 and 3 as those are the chapters that explain where the mirror is at the moment.

Spoilers:

Twilight: Receives the mirror by special delivery by Derpy from Princess Celestia. She has it put into the basement. We also find out that Derpy was supposed to have a letter for Twilight explaining it, but it was lost in transit. Twilight says that she can send for another copy and goes to check the mirror out after Derpy leaves. She sees herself as the head of a prestigious library in Canterlot. She is joined there by her family and friends and everypony is happy.

Princess Celestia: The first chapter where a pony isn’t looking into the mirror for the first time. We find that she has succumbed to the need to look into the mirror. However, she realizes that what’s shown in the mirror is not real. She sees herself traveling back in time and preventing the transformation of Luna into Nightmare Moon. Twilight discovers her looking into the mirror, but she manages to escape before she could be questioned.

Rainbow Dash: Twilight has a pretty good grasp on what the mirror does, but she’s uncertain. She enlists Rainbow Dash’s help, but is turned down on basis that Rainbow Dash already knows what she wants. However, Rainbow Dash begins to doubt that and goes to take a look anyways. She sees herself with an unknown stallion. She’s in the hospital and giving birth. It’s theorized that she doesn’t know exactly what she wants other than a family. With who remains to be seen. *No shipping intended*

Fluttershy: She is having a bad day with certain animals when she’s reminded by Rarity that they have a spa appointment together. At the spa, we find that Rarity has Opal with her because she didn’t have time to drop off her cat back at the boutique. When they go to get into the salt bath, Opal freaks and runs away. Fluttershy offers to chase after Opal and eventually ends up chasing the cat into the Ponyville LIbrary. There, she is fooled by Opal into going downstairs where she discovers the mirror. Fluttershy sees animals, both the hunter and the hunted, living in perfect harmony. Twilight discovers her and Fluttershy runs back to the spa.

Big Macintosh: He is cleaning some farm tools when he is approached by Twilight. She asks if she can move something to the barn barn for safe keeping. She explains that it’s the mirror and he agrees as long as he is out of the barn at the time she hides it. He goes to collect tools from the orchard while she hides the mirror. But as he does so, Twilight’s spell goes off with a bang and she’s thrown from the barn loft. After he watches her teleport to the hospital, he goes to investigate the bang to ensure that there’s no fire hazard. He bumps into the mirror. He sees his entire family working under him on Sweet Apple Acres. He’s caught by Applejack and is reminded of Twilight. He runs off to check on her.

Princess Luna: Princess Luna confronts her sister about recent behavior. Celestia has been acting strange and it bothers Luna. She finds out that Celestia has acquired the mirror and has been looking into it, causing her to go mad. We find out from Celestia that the mirror’s previous owner passed away and it was transferred to her for safekeeping. Luna determines that Celestia needs to go to sleep for her own safety and attempts to force it on her sister. The briefly fight and Luna succeeds in casting a sleep spell. She then goes to Ponyville in search of the mirror. At the library, she finds that Twilight has been hospitalized after being blown from the Sweet Apple Acres barn loft. Luna immediately goes there with the intent of destroying the mirror. Just as she’s about to, she sees her desire and it gives her pause. She sees herself conquering Equestria in the name of the Lunar Republic. We learn that deep down, desires never change.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders: it’s a new day of crusading and after a brief argument, they decide that maybe their cutie marks will be discovered in the barn loft. The intent is to discover what spell Twilight cast and earn their marks in Thaumatology. They get there and while searching bump into the mirror. Scootaloo sees herself having been adopted by Rainbow Dash and they live together happily. Apple Bloom sees the Cutie Mark Crusaders as older, but still the best of friends, and they earned their cutie marks. Sweetie Belle sees her family reunited, her parents no longer traveling. They are all happy and no longer argue. Applejack catches them while they’re looking and sends them away disappointed. 

Applejack: While she’s bucking apples, she wonders out loud why she managed to catch both Big Mac and the Crusaders up in the loft. Rainbow Dash, who is helping her, tells AJ to just go check it out. Applejack does and remembering one of the crusaders excuses, a mirror, searches the hay for one. She bumps into the mirror. Being the Element of Honesty, she sees that she only wants the truth, and she gets the truth. She realizes that the mirror isn’t all that it seems. As she realizes this, Big Mac comes up to the loft for a second glance. Applejack warns him, but he pays no heed to it. Applejack rushes off to tell Twilight. Twilight explains the full purpose of the mirror and Applejack rushes out again to get Big Mac away from it.

Pinkie Pie: She is visiting Twilight in the hospital. They talk a bit before a nurse comes in with some sleep medicine for Twilight. Just before she falls asleep, she asks Pinkie to check on Applejack who had left just before Pinkie arrived. Pinkie agrees and goes to the loft. There she finds Applejack attempting to remove her brother from the loft. She helps and together they drag Big Mac away. Left alone in the loft, Pinkie becomes curious as to what Big Mac had been staring at. She discovers the mirror. She sees herself throwing the largest party in Equestria. There is no more crime and no more misery while the party is being thrown. We learn that in theory, the mirror affects ponies at different rates.