Putting Her Dreams Aside

The bell above the door at Sugar Cube Corner rang as Soarin walked through the entrance. He was immediately hit with the tantalizing smell of freshly baked cakes, cupcakes, muffins, and whatever sweets that had just come out of the oven. He took a few seconds to allow the luscious scents to fill his mind and senses before a voice from behind the counter brought him back to reality. "Hello, there, Soarin!" Mrs. Cake said, excitedly.

"Hey, Mrs. Cake," the stallion replied, "Are there any left?"

"Right here, my friend!" Mr. Cake said, seeming to pop out of nowhere. He was holding the last lemon-vanilla layer cake with butter-cream icing that was left in the shop. "Just how she likes it!"

"Great! Thanks!" Soarin replied before reaching into his saddlebags and pulling out eight bits, which he promptly gave to Mrs. Cake. The cake he had just bought was one of the many cravings that Rainbow Dash had been getting recently.

"Now, how's our friend Rainbow Dash doing?" Mrs. Cake asked as she placed the bits in the register.

"She seems alright," Soarin replied, "I mean, she still gets mourning sickness from time to time, plus mood swings, but right now, all she wants is that cake."

"Oh my, I can remember all the cravings I had when I was pregnant!" Mrs. Cake continued, "After it was all over, it took me a while to lose all the extra weight, aside from the foals."

"Yeah, Dash has been craving everything from pickles to pretzels, but that right there," he said, gesturing to the cake he had just purchased, "Is her favorite."

"Well, we're glad to help you keep her satisfied, Soarin," Mr. Cake said.

"Thanks, you two," Soarin responded, "Anyway, Dash's first ultrasound is tomorrow."

"Oh, is it now?" Mrs. Cake asked.

"Yeah. I mean," Soarin continued as he lowered his head slightly, "I should be excited about it, but since Dash doesn't really want this foal, it's more of just a plain, ordinary checkup rather than an exciting experience."

"I'm sorry you're going through all this, Soarin," Mr. Cake said, "I can only imagine what you must be feeling right now."

"Thanks. I mean, in all honesty, I'd love to be a dad, but since Dash and I aren't married, I really can't make that decision for her. Anyway, I'd better get this back to her. Thanks again!" Soarin finished as he loaded the cake, which was now in a white package, into his saddlebags.

"Bye, Soarin!" the Cakes said in unison as their customer exited their shop and flew away.

Soarin landed in front of Dash's door, opening it quickly. "Dash," he said, loudly, "I'm back!"

"What took you so long???" Rainbow asked, not sounding too happy. She was laying on her couch, the many wrappers and empty cups around her signaling that she had eaten quite a bit since her coltfriend had left.

"Oh, come on..." Soarin said, equally as bemused, "I was only gone ten minutes. Anyway, here's your cake."

"Next time, make it five," Rainbow responded, blankly. Soarin was used to this at this point, but anytime Dash's mood swings caused her to get upset, he hated it. He didn't want to deal with it, but he had to, as he had promised Dash to stick by her.

Soarin went into Dash's kitchen to get himself a glass of virgin cider. He was trying to maintain his protein-centered diet as much he could while Dash was on a drastically different one. After downing the glass in about five gulps, he placed the now empty glass in the sink before turning back to Rainbow. To his surprise, the cake was nowhere to be found.

"BUUURRRPPP!" Rainbow belched. She then let out a content sigh, rubbing her slightly rounded belly, a result of both the foal inside her and the amount of food she had just eaten. "HHHAAA...That hit the spot," she said.

"I'm glad it did," Soarin replied.

"Hey, I'm sorry I got mad at you," Rainbow apologized, her mood quickly changing to a calmer one, "I didn't mean to."

"It's okay, Dashie," Soarin replied, walking over to give his marefriend a kiss on her forehead. He then sat on the couch next to her. The two of them remained silent for almost a minute. "So..." Soarin continued, "The first ultrasound is tomorrow."

"Yeah..." Dash replied.

"How do you feel?"

"I'm not sure. I feel like I'm gonna see a picture of a foal that isn't mine."

"That's...kinda what's gonna happen, Dash."

Rainbow sighed again. "Soarin, have you ever felt as if, well...you think you've made a decision that's best for you, but as you get closer and closer to fulfilling that decision, you start to second-guess yourself?"

Soarin listened intently. "Uhhh...Other than thinking about changing my answer on a test when I was in school, not really. Why?"

"It's just that..." She sighed again. "You know what, never mind. I'll tell you at the ultrasound tomorrow."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I think it'll be better for both of us."

"If that's what you want, I'm okay with it."

"Well, I'm glad you are, 'cause I'm pretty tired right now," Rainbow said while yawning.

"Want me to take you to your bedroom?" Rainbow's response was her reaching her forelegs out as if she were about to hug Soarin. He took the initiative, carefully scooping his mare up in his own forelegs and slowly flying her down the hallway and to her bedroom. Once there, Soarin laid his marefriend down on her bed, hearing another content sigh from her as he did. "See you tomorrow?" Soarin asked.

Rainbow smiled. "Yeah. See you tomorrow," she finished. The cyan mare then pulled the blankets over herself and turned onto her side. Soarin was about to leave, but not before leaning down and giving his marefriend one last kiss for the night. Once finished, the stallion turned around and exited the bedroom, eventually exiting the cloud home altogether and flying into the nighttime sky toward his own.

Nurse Redheart began rubbing the ultrasound wand over Dash's slightly rounded belly, which had already been lubricated with clear gel. Both Rainbow Dash and Soarin were watching the ultrasound screen. Though they knew that the foal would be put up for adoption, they still wanted to get a good look at it. Nurse Redheart stopped when she noticed the head. "Well, it appears the foal is developing properly. Here you can see the head, and here's it's forelegs and back."

"Wow," Dash said, silently, "This is actually kinda cool, don't you think. Soarin?"

"Yeah," Soarin responded, "It is."

Nurse Redheart continued showing the couple the unborn foal through the images. "And here you can see its hind legs are developing normally, and...wait a minute..." Redheart paused as she noticed something odd on the monitor.

"What is it?" Dash asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

Redheart moved the wand until it was over the unusual object she had just noticed. "Hmmm..." she hummed to herself, examining the image closely. Her face then grew very excited. "Well, isn't this a surprise!?" she said, happily.

"What's going on?" Soarin asked, also a bit concerned, but not as much, given that he had just seen Redheart grow very cheerful.

"It appears you two are expecting twins!"

"TWINS?!?" Rainbow and Soarin exclaimed in unison.

"Yes! Twins!" Redheart said before moving the wand back to what she had just confirmed to be the second foal's head. "If you look here, you can clearly see that one foal is right-side-up, and the other one is upside-down. Right here, which is where I initially stopped, is the other foal's head. And if we look over here," she continued, moving the wand, "We can see the rest of the other foal's body, which appears to be developing just as healthily as the other one. Don't worry, by the time you're ready for delivery, they'll both be facing the same direction. If they're not, we have ways to fix it so we can avoid a C-Section." She then used a different component to listen to the foals' heartbeats, both of which sounded normal.

Both Wonderbolts were in complete shock. This whole time, Rainbow thought she would be giving one foal away, but now two? It caused her to suddenly grow nervous, the same being said for Soarin. "C-Could you give us a little bit of time alone?" Rainbow asked Redheart.

"Absolutely," the nurse replied, "Would you like me to print out some pictures of the foals for you?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks," Rainbow replied. Redheart smiled, then turned around and turned on the special printer that was connected to the ultrasound machine, and after pressing a few buttons, the pictures started coming out.

After a couple of minutes of printing, Redheart handed the pictures over to the couple. "Thanks," Rainbow said.

"You're welcome," Redheart replied, "And congratulations!" The nurse smiled before exiting the examination room, leaving the couple to themselves.

Soarin took a few looks at the pictures, then looked over to his marefriend, who was lying on her side away from him. She was beginning to cry a little. "Dash, are you okay?" the stallion asked in a whisper.

"T-Twins..." Rainbow said to herself, her voice barely audible to Soarin, "Th-There's...t-two of them..."

"Dash, what's wrong?" Soarin asked again, a little louder this time.

Rainbow didn't immediately respond. It took her a good thirty seconds to come up with the right words. She sat up and said, "Soarin, I-I need to tell you something."

"Tell me anything, Dashie. Just let it out."

"Okay. Well, I know I sounded pretty insistent that I was giving the foal up for adoption, but...now that I'm giving away two, it...it just doesn't feel right. And the worst part is that I don't know why."

"Mother's instinct, perhaps?"

"Maybe, but I doubt it." She sighed. "Soarin, remember what I said to you last night about second-guessing yourself?"

"Yeah."

"Well," she continued, looking at the ultrasound pictures, "I think I'm starting to do that right now." She began picturing the heads of two of her best friends in place of the foals'. "The more I think about it at this point," Dash continued, "The more I wonder what the foals' lives would be without their birth parents. I can't help but picture Pinkie and Fluttershy in these pictures. For one, Pinkie's life was drastically different than her current one, and Fluttershy...well, she's been shy and sad her whole life. Can you imagine what they'd be like today if they were adopted into different families?"

"Dash, what are you saying?" Soarin asked, a faint glimmer of hope flowing through his mind.

"I'm saying that, well...I don't think giving the twins up for adoption is a good idea."

"Y-You don't?"

"No...and if I do decide to keep them, would you mind being there for them as much as I would be?"

"Yes, Dash. Absolutely," Soarin said, "Actually, hold on."

Rainbow watched curiously as Soarin brought his saddlebags over next to her bed. "Why did you bring those, exactly?"

"Well, I brought them to carry the pictures, if we were to get any, which we did, but there was another reason."

"What for?"

"Well, I was kinda hoping there'd be a day during your pregnancy that'd you'd think twice about adoption. I mean, I wasn't going to force you to not do it. That's your decision, after all."

Rainbow smiled warmly at her coltfriend. "Thanks, Soarin. I gotta tell 'ya, though, I'm glad those voices in my head stopped me from getting that abortion. If I had gone through and realized that I had aborted two foals, I don't know what I'd do with myself."

"I can see why. Anyway, there was another reason why I brought my saddlebags today. Wanna hear why?"

"Tell me, Soarin."

"Okay. Well, since you've decided that you'll most likely not give the foals away, I feel now is the best time for me to ask you an important question," he said, taking his marefriend's forehoof in his.

"S-Soarin, what's this about?"

Soarin sighed, then looked Rainbow straight in the eyes. "Dash, you and I have been together for quite some time, and aside from being in the Wonderbolts, it's been the best time of my life." Rainbow smiled. "I think you're the greatest mare in all of Equestria, and I feel that we were meant to be together. And now that you and I are gonna be having two foals, I need to ask you something."

Rainbow's eyes widened as Soarin reached for something in his saddlebags. "S-Soarin...what are you..."

Her silent speech was stopped by Soarin's forehoof coming out of his bags, holding a small, black box. Soarin then sat on his rump. "Rainbow Dash," he said, opening the small box to reveal a sparkling, diamond-encrusted silver ring with a thin, cyan string tied to each side of the diamond, "Will you marry me?"

Dash gasped as she put a forehoof to her muzzle. A few more tears began welling up in her eyes as she began to shiver. "S-Soarin!" she silently exclaimed. The two of them were silent for another ten seconds before Rainbow took her hoof away from her mouth and said, "Yes! Yes, I will! Yes!" She immediately leaned forward, prompting Soarin to lunge into his new fiancée gently and draw her into a hug. "I love you so much, Soarin!"

"I love you, too, Dashie! I wouldn't want to spend my life with any other pony!"

"Same here!" Dash pulled her head back and kissed Soarin on the lips, immediately forcing her tongue into his mouth. Soarin took the initiative and allowed his tongue to dance with hers.

After a full minute, the newly engaged couple broke the kiss, staring romantically into each other's eyes. Soarin then reached into the black box and removed the ring, using both his forehooves to slide Dash's head through the string and have it hang on her neck. Dash looked at the shiny ring and held it in her hoof. "It's beautiful, Soarin!" she said, "Thank you!"

"Only the best for you, Dashie," Soarin replied before kissing her again. "I'm so happy right now!" Soarin exclaimed, softly.

"Me, too!" Dash replied in an identical tone, "I can't believe the four of us," she continued, rubbing her belly, "...are gonna be a family!"

"Me neither..." Soarin finished as he hugged his fiancée again, "And I wouldn't want it any other way..." Both of them stayed silent, relishing the euphoria that was the next step in their relationship. They remained in that blissful state for the rest of the day as they went back to Dash's house for some quality alone time, each pegasus eager to see how everypony else would react once they broke the news later on.