//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Heart of Gold 
// by CartoonNerd12 
//------------------------------//

Young Princess Screwball laid in her large canopy bed as her mother was humming a lullaby to get her to sleep. But Screwball wasn't sleepy, instead she requested, "Mommy, could you tell me the story of how you and Daddy met again?"

Queen Fluttershy giggled, "Screwy, you've heard it a thousand times."

"But it's such an amazing story! Please?" she pleaded with her big swirly eyes.

Fluttershy gave in, "Alright, but you'll have to go to sleep once it's done, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy."

"Very well. Now… once upon a time, there was a king who ruled his kingdom with an iron hoof. He was mean and spiteful to his servants and he taxed his subjects to no end. Now some might say that the king was cruel and evil but the truth was, he was lonely and had never known love in his life… But nobody knew that until one day a miller and his son came to his castle begging for more time to pay their taxes…



Mr. Shy gulped as he and his son, Zephyr Breeze entered into the castle and was being escorted to the throne room. 

Zephyr noticed how nervous his father was looking and told him.

"Relax Pop, I'm sure the king will give you more time, it's not our fault that the mill has been running slow lately and business hasn't picked up in weeks."

Mr. Shy addressed his son, "It's the taxes. Ponies can't afford much on anything these days."

"Well why not just tell the king that!"

Mr. Shy gasped, "Are you insane?! No pony tells the king what to do!"

The guard in front of them, a Sir Flash Sentry looked back and told Zephyr, "Your father is right, sir. If anyone tries to correct our king, it could mean banishment or worse…"

The miller pointed, "See? What did I tell you?"

They stopped at two closed double doors. Flash told them, "Wait here while I go in to announce you." he headed to the doors and took a deep breath before going in with the doors closing behind him.

Mr. Shy and Zephyr could hear muffled yelling before Flash came back out looking frazzled and said, "You may go in but keep the conversation short."

The miller agreed and thanked the guard. When they entered the room there sat a gray unicorn stallion with jet black hair wearing a crown and robe on a red and black throne with antlers sticking on the top. To Mr. Shy it looked very menacing but what was worse was that the king looked terrifying! What with his mean scowl and intimating pose.

Just then the king spoke, "Who dares appear before me?! I am not in the mood to see anyone today!"

Beside the king was a lavender unicorn wearing robes and next to her was a tall green and purple dragon wearing page attire as the unicorn addressed the king, "My king, it is thy right and royal duty to meet with the subjects of your kingdom."

The king bellowed at her, "Don't tell me what a king must do or don't, Sparkle! It maybe your job to be the royal vizier but I will ask for your advice when I want it!"

The unicorn looked annoyed but she muttered, "Of course, my king…"

The king went back to the stallions that were in the room, "Now, again I ask who dares appear before me?"

Mr. Shy gulped and felt tongue-tied as he began to stumble at his words, "Y-your M-majesty, I-I a-am b-but a s-simple m-miller…"

The regal unicorn shouted, "Get to the point already!"

Mr. Shy quaked at his words and Zephyr knew then he had to step up to speak. He cleared his throat, "Your Highness, I am Zephyr Breeze and this is my father, who is the miller of your fair kingdom. We have come before you to give us more time to pay our taxes."

The king yelled in fury, "Out of the question!"

Zephyr quickly said, "Oh but sire we must! We have a very poor business and we must support my mother and sister. Surely you can find it in your heart to not have a family go broke, all we ask is a little more time."

Before the king could protest, Twilight asked, "How old is your sister?"

"She is of marriageable age and a rare beauty at that."

That actually intrigued the king as he questioned, "A rare beauty you say?"

Zephyr grinned as he saw an opportunity and directly talked to the king, "Oh, yes sire! Every stallion in the village wishes for her to be his wife."

The king furrowed his brow in thought and addressed the miller, "Is that true?"

Mr. Shy stammered out, "It-It is true, my king. My daughter has been offer marriage proposals time and time again but she refuses to marry anyone who does not love her."

The king rubbed his chin, "Hmm… Has she considered say… a king?"

The vizier and the page exchanged concerned looks with the unicorn saying, "My king…?"

He looked at his servants and told them, "Think about it, I need a queen by my side, right?"

They uneasily said, "Right…"

"So I need the most beautiful mare in town to be mine!" he asked the stallions, "What else can you tell me about her?"

Mr. Shy unsteadily replied, "Well um, she's very timid, my lord, and she spends a great deal outside to play and care for any animal that comes her way."

Zephyr pointed, "And she knits too! She's a very good knitter."

"And…?" the king drew out in eagerness.

Zephyr wavered, "And…? And…" he could feel sweat forming on his brow, he knew he had to sell this to the king if his family was ever to get out of debt and move on to better things. Then suddenly an idea popped into his head and he blurted out, "She can spin straw into gold!"

Mr. Shy gasped along with the vizier and the page. They looked at the king who seemed hard to read until he scowled deeply and he slowly rose up to move toward Zephyr as he said in a low tone, "Do you take me for a fool? If such a thing was possible why would you come crawling to me and beg to give you more time to raise money?!"

Zephyr started sweating like crazy as his brain racked to come up with a good, no, great excuse that the king would buy without repercussions. He quickly said the first thing that came at the top of his head, "Because my sister needs a large amount of straw to make it happen and since we're poor at the moment we can't buy the extra straw!" he made a cheesy grin and prayed to Celestia and Luna that it would work.

The king's face then softened as he processed what Zephyr said and finally he spoke, "Very well. You've convinced me."

Zephyr sighed in relief.

The king continued, "I want you to bring me your sister to the castle tomorrow morning, I would so very much like to meet her…"

Zephyr and Mr. Shy exchanged looks with Zephyr Breeze telling the king, "As you wish, Your Majesty." he bowed and so did his father before they left the room.

Once she was certain they were gone, Twilight yelled out, "Straw into gold?! That's not possible even for unicorns! We may have magical power but we could never turn straw into gold!"

The king told her, "Maybe you can't, but you forget that I have much more power then you. If I wasn't in this cursed body right now, I would be able to show you how it's done!"

"You're in that body for a reason," Spike mentioned, "The princesses punished you for overusing your powers."

"I do not need a reminder of that, thank you very much! Yes, it is during the day I am stuck like this but at least at night I'm allowed to return to my normal self even if some of my powers are shorten from the curse."

Twilight gestured, "Thus why Celestia and Luna wanted me to watch you."

The king humphed, "As if I need a babysitter. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!"

Spike uttered under his breath, "And that's why you have servants at your beck and call."

The unicorn king glared at the page and ordered, "Go to the kitchens and check up on what is taking lunch so long! I swear that Applejack and Pinkie Pie can be so slow!"

The dragon slightly frowned and mumbled, "At once, my liege…" he made his way out the room and went down the halls before arriving in the kitchens where he saw the cooks being busy preparing the meal. In the midst of the preparation were two earth ponies, one was a hyper pink mare with poofy hair while the other was an orange mare with straw blond hair and both of them wore simple kitchen maid attire with aprons.

The dragon approached the orange mare with a smile before planting a kiss on her head.

Applejack smiled back before stating, "Hi, hon. Let me guess, his majesty sent you to check on what's keeping lunch, right?"

Spike sighed, "Something like that."

AJ nodded in understanding, "Well you can tell him it's on the way and that he has to wait a little bit longer."

Pinkie uttered in, "Yeah, we had a late start because of Applejack's morning sickness."

Spike shook his head in frustration, "I hate how you have to work in your condition…"

"Now sugar cube, we both agreed that we wouldn't let the king know about my pregnancy and in order to do that I have to keep workin'."

Spike stated, "I still don't like it. Especially since we have to keep our marriage a secret from him too."

Pinkie mentioned, "You're not the only one, Cheesy and I have to keep a low profile whenever we're acting lovey-dovey around the king. You know how touchy he gets when he sees couples being happy."

Both dragon and the mare nodded.

Pinkie added, "My poor hubby… he tries so hard to lift the king's spirits up but nothing works!"

Spike agreed, "Yeah, I've seen how as the court jester he pulls all the stops but it doesn't work on the king."

The pink pony motioned, "There's just no pleasing him! And I feel sorry for whoever ends up being his queen!"

Spike pointed, "Now that you've mentioned it… It will most likely that we will have a queen soon."

Both earth ponies gaped as they inquired, "Who?!"



Mr. Shy and Zephyr had made it back home to their small cottage that was next to the run-down mill and told Mrs. Shy and Fluttershy all that transpired at the castle as Zephyr exclaimed.

"And the best part is, the king wants to meet you!" he pointed to his sister.

Fluttershy gasped and meekly replied, "T-the… the… king wants to see me?"

Zephyr grinned, "But of course! Once I told him what a beauty you were, he insisted on meeting you!"

"You did?! Oh, Zephyr, how could you!" Fluttershy could feel the tears in her eyes.

Her brother motioned, "Why are you getting upset? The king will most likely take you as his queen because of your beauty!"

"But I don't want to marry anyone who wants me for my beauty!"

Zephyr retorted, "Now you're just being stubborn! Mother and Father will agree with me that you should see if the king will marry you!" he looked to their parents, "Isn't that right, Mumsie? Dadums?"

Mr. and Mrs. Shy exchanged uncertain looks until Mr. Shy stated, "He… he did seem very interested in you, dearest, once we told him what you liked doing all day. If you could marry the king, then perhaps…"

Zephyr gestured, "See?!"

Fluttershy felt unsure about this and inquired to her father, "Papa, would it help you and the business if I marry the king?"

Mr. Shy hesitated to answer but gave a slight nod.

Fluttershy sighed and said, "Very well… I… I will meet with the king…"