Heart's Desire

by LunarShadow

Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash

Loop, loop, dive, and... Rainbow Dash folded her wings as she reached the apex of her climb, twisted, and let herself fall. As she neared the ground, she took a breath and closed her eyes. Flaring her wings, she pulled up hard. Opening her eyes, she whooped in excitement. She had pulled up just above the treeline.

I’ll bet the Wonderbolts have never seen something like that! I’m sure to get on at the next tryouts. Her practice finished for the day, Rainbow Dash turned and headed back to town. I can almost smell the uniform already.

As she flew, she had the strangest feeling that somepony was below, watching her. Looking down, she frowned. She couldn’t see anypony around. The sun had just fallen below the horizon and most ponies were already inside eating dinner or something.

Shaking her head, Rainbow Dash turned her focus back on reaching her cloud home. As she passed the library, the feeling returned. This time, it returned with somepony calling her name.

“Hey Rainbow! Rainbow Dash!”

Looking over her shoulder, Rainbow Dash spotted Twilight waving frantically at her from one of the upstairs windows in the library.

“Hey Twi’,” she shouted. “What can I... oof!” Rainbow Dash slammed into dark storm cloud, one of the first of the storm front brewing in the distance. She slid off the cloud and fell the short distance to the ground.

Twilight immediately appeared with a bright flash of light. “Oh my gosh! Are you alright? I didn’t mean to distract you like that!”

Rainbow Dash jumped to her hooves, rubbing her head. “Yeah... I’ll be fine,” she replied. “Now, what’d you want?”

“Oh! Umm... yeah. I was just wondering if you could come test something for me.” Twilight nodded back at the library. “It’ll only take five minutes tops, I promise.”

Raising an eyebrow, Rainbow dash said, “Sure. I guess. As long as you aren’t planning to hook me up to any weird gizmos.”

Twilight beamed. “Don’t worry! All I need you to do is to look into a mirror and tell me what you see.” Twilight turned and trotted by towards her house. “Like I said, five minutes tops.”

“A mirror?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Why don’t you do it yourself? I mean... I could just describe myself to you.”

Twilight giggled. “No, not that type of mirror. I mean, you’ll see yourself, but you’ll see other things too.” She stopped and turned to explain. “You see, there was these words that I couldn’t read: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.” She struggled over the words as she tried to pronounce them.

“I thought it was some foreign language, but then I realized that the words were actually just backwards. With a little time, I came up with I show not your face, but your heart’s desire.” Twilight laughed. “Suddenly, what I saw made sense. I just want to test the mirror again to make sure it wasn’t just a fluke or something only unicorns can use.”

Rainbow Dash waited patiently for Twilight to finish. When she did, Dash rolled her eyes. “Twilight... we already know what I’d see. Me leading the Wonderbolts, obviously. Perhaps you should pick somepony that you don’t know.”

As she said this, she knew it wasn’t true. Deep down, another desire bit at her heart. However, she couldn’t quite place her hoof on it. Frowning, she jumped into the air. “Sorry Twilight, but I... umm... gotta go do dishes or I’m eating off cloud floor tonight.”

Rainbow Dash steeled herself, shoving away all other emotions. There is nothing you want more than to be on the Wonderbolts!

Or is there? whispered the furthest corner of her mind.

Shaking her head, she shook her hoof at the approaching cloud bank. “I know what I want and no stupid mirror can change that!”

But what about your want for a—

Rainbow Dash tore into her house, storming away as the clouds reformed around the hole she had created. Angrily, she scowled at everything and anything that got in her way. She jumped over a table, broke through a wall, kicked various objects out of the way.

Finally, she reached the pantry and just grabbed the first thing she saw, a box of wheat flakes. Without looking, she dumped the entire box into a bowl and began eating.

Why am I angry? I shouldn’t be, but I am?

The other part of her mind seemed to whisper to her. Maybe it’s because for once in your life, you’ve realized that you don’t have things planned as well as you want. Maybe the thought of your true desire both scares and fascinates you. A combination you’re not used to, so you resorted to the easiest emotion to feel: anger.

Sighing, she pushed the bowl away, no longer hungry. “The problem is, I don’t know what that desire actually is. I suppose there’s only one way to find out...” she closed her eyes and shook her head. “Guess I’m going to go take a peek at this mirror.”

---

“I knew you’d reconsider!” cheered Twilight. “The mirror is downstairs if you’ll follow me.”

Rainbow Dash put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Wait, before we go, I’ve got a question.” When Twilight looked back at Rainbow Dash quizzically, she continued. “What if what I see is... bad or scary?”

Twilight chuckled and said, “Then you’ve been hiding a lot of things from us and yourself.” Her face grew serious. “But I know you. You’re a good pony and what you see is probably going to be exactly what you said.”

Nodding, Rainbow Dash trotted past Twilight and down into the basement. “Alright, I’m ready.”

Together, the sat in front of the mirror and just stared. Rainbow Dash squinted, but nothing looked back at her.

“Twilight, I only see—”

Twilight silenced her, waving in Rainbow Dash’s face. “Shh... I’m trying to see if the picture has changed from the last time I looked into the mirror several days ago.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash saw something out of the corner of her eyes. Turning her gaze to the upper left corner of the mirror, she gasped. A pegasus stallion shrouded in shadows flew down to stand right next to her reflection. He smiled and grabbed her hoof in his own.

She realized that while she stood in reality, the Rainbow Dash she saw in the mirror lay in a hospital bed. Her reflection had a large, round stomach.

A doctor joined her and the mysterious stallion. He mouthed something and the other Rainbow Dash strained. She looked like she was in immense pain. Both the doctor and the stallion allowed her to squeeze their hooves while she pushed.

The image faded to be replaced by the same Rainbow Dash. However, this time she lay there sweating as the doctor placed a bundle on her lap. The stallion patted her shoulder and whispered something.

Rainbow Dash touched the mirror, a look of wonderment on her face. “Twi’?”

“Hmm?”

“I can’t see him, yet I can.” She looked over at Twilight. “What does it mean?”

Twilight sighed and tore her gaze from the mirror and trotted over to a lab bench where a notebook rested. “I don’t know. Probably that you aren’t entirely sure who you want in your life?” She shrugged and jotted some things down. “It could also mean that it’s a desire that’s not quite a desire.”

“Meaning?”

“You both want it and dread it?”

Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise. “I... I guess. I mean, having a family would hinder my ability to get onto the Wonderbolts.” She sighed. “I don’t know. This is all so confusing!”

“But on the other hoof, this confirms what I wanted to test. The mirror will work for any pony.” Twilight closed the journal and trotted upstairs.

Nodding, Rainbow Dash followed after. “Right, glad I could help.” She headed over to a window and hopped up on the edge. “But I have a lot to think about now.” She flared her wings and took off towards her house.

A lot to think about indeed.

As she flew, the storm started with gusto, showering the town in a torrent of rain.

Comments

[Bell]

Excuse me while I: D'AWWWWWWWWWWW! Mama Dash is best Dash!
How about Big Macintosh next?
Also, just curious, am I the only one voting on this?

[1-oh-First]

I want a Fluttershy chapter next.

[LunarShadow]

819776

Hehe, glad you liked Dash's chapter.

And no, you aren't the only voter. Just the only consistent one. Thanks for sticking with me and my updates!

819851

Sure, I can do a Fluttershy chapter. And then I'll do a Big Mac chapter unless I get a sudden thing of votes pointing me in another direction.

[RaptorJesus]

It is a nice take on both the mirror and the ponies' desire, so far.
Nothing obvious, and nothing completely out of the blue either.

I'll be waiting eagerly for the next chapters! (By the way, if you want to have Big Mac look in the mirror before the rest of the Mane 6, maybe you should pair him with Applejack to justify his presence here...Because I doubt Twilight would ask him before, say, Fluttershy.)
Actually, I really wonder what would be Fluttershy's desire. There's plenty of great possibilities^^

[sneef]

img.ponibooru.org/_images/b83c8d3937373c3ed53591b6b5368911/36566%20-%20pinkie_pie_head_explode.jpg

Just, I have no words to express how much I enjoyed an original idea.

[LunarShadow]

820109
> Nothing out of the blue.
Heh... I surprised myself with Rainbow Dash. But I'm glad you enjoyed it.

820766
I've got the Fluttershy chapter done and ready to go. But I'm going to wait until tomorrow because bump. And I'm also glad you enjoyed it.

[sneef]

820990 Indeed. I found out how best to explain my enjoyment of this chapter, however. By not speaking in my first language, of course!

Danke schön, Herr Schatten!

Danke schön!

[Magnafox]

My only gripe is that in the original mirror only you can see your own desires but other than that this is great.