Heart of Gold

by CartoonNerd12


Chapter 6

The king tapped his hoof on the dining table impatiently with it being set up with the finest silverware and a candelabra in the middle of the table. Twilight was standing by seeing how irked he was becoming.

He spoke, "Where is she?! I sent that dragon to get her five minutes ago!"

Twilight suggested, "Maybe she is still getting ready? After all she's dining with the king, so naturally she's trying to look her best."

"Ugh, it's always formalities with you ponies, so boring!"

By then Spike came into the room and announced, "Miss Fluttershy, your majesty." he moved to the side so Fluttershy could walk in.

The king's breath went still when he saw her. He thought she looked beautiful before when she wore peasant attire but now with her dressing like a princess, she was even more radiant. That settle it, she must become his queen and he was going to do everything he can to make that happen.

He stood up and made a low dip, "My dear, you honor me with your presence."

Fluttershy blushed and stammered, "T-thank you Y-your Highness…"

He pulled out a chair, "Come, come, sit by me."

She did a tiny gulp and went toward the chair and he pushed her in. He sat down after her and addressed the unicorn and dragon, "You may leave us now."

Twilight and Spike exchanged looks of uncertainty and even Fluttershy was looking uneasy as she was hoping they would stay.

Twilight started, "Maybe one of us should-"

The king shouted, "Now!" and he pointed to the door.

Spike and Twilight gave Fluttershy an apologetic look as they left.

Fluttershy softly uttered, "That wasn't very nice…"

"What was that my dear?" he inquired.

"Uh, nothing, your majesty…"

He quietly chuckled, "You can't fool me, my dear. I'm not deaf. I've heard much worst from my servants."

Her eyes widen, "Then you know why they're upset with you!"

"Please, I know exactly why…" he smirked, "It's because I force them to stay within this castle by keeping them under such long contracts."

She made a sad face while asking, "But why? Why denide them their freedom? To never let them come and go as they please?"

"Now if I did that, I would have an empty castle that would get grimy and yucky."

"But maybe if you treat your servants with a bit more respect and kindness-"

He burst out laughing and didn't seem to be stopping until he could see the genuineness in Fluttershy's face making him say, "Oh, you're serious."

"I am serious, because surely that must be the better way of keeping your servants around without being so mean to them."

He shook his head in amusement, "My dear, you've got to learn a lot about being a ruler. You need to show that you can give commands without a second thought, that you are a strong leader with a firm hoof, but most importantly you got to have fear by your side so that you can get your point across."

Fluttershy was on the verge of crying, Rainbow Dash and the others were right, he was a cruel king and that's all he cared about being. She will never love him, not now not ever.

He continued to speak, "By the way, I have a gift for you." he summoned up a jewelry box with his aura and opened it to her, revealing a shiny pearl necklace.

She said, "It is lovely but-" before she could say another word the necklace was magically placed around her neck.

"It's yours now. You may do whatever you want with it."

"Well, thank you, but I must tell you that-"

But before she could get in other word in edgewise, he summoned for his cooks to serve them their lunch. With a sigh, Fluttershy ate her meal though she wasn't very hungry especially not after her conversation with the king. Then half-way throughout the meal he told her, "I'll be leaving in a few days to attend a royal summit so you don't have to worry about turning that straw into gold anytime soon. However, while I'm away I will be leaving an old acquaintance of mine in charge of the castle but rest assured that I will tell him that you will still be treated well and that no harm is to come to you."

Fluttershy simply nodded and decided not to tell the king yet she won't love him, after all Rainbow Dash was still here and she hadn't seen her in a long time. Plus, there were so many ponies she just met and she liked them all that she wouldn't mind getting to know them better. And there was the strange creature, Discord that she had to see again. There was something about him that made her so intrigued to him that it was hard to tell if it was her love of animals speaking out or if it had been his charm and the way he helped her. With that thought in mind, she continued eating.


While the king and Fluttershy had their lunch, Twilight was walking down the hall checking her to-do list when she heard a psst and turned to find Flash Sentry at his post.

She greeted him, "Sir Sentry."

He greeted back, "Miss Sparkle."

There was a pause as the both of them checked to see they were all alone and by luck they were.

He inquired, "Another busy day?"

She sighed, "It's always a busy day with him. But every time I tell him what to do he just scoffs me off. It's a constant struggle."

Flash nodded in sympathy.

She continued, "At this rate I'll never be able to fulfill what Celestia wanted me to do and I'll have failed her…" she said that last part in sadness.

Flash slightly cringed knowing he would have to be careful on what he'll say next. He slowly started, "Maybe that's not such a bad thing…"

Her eyes widen and gasped, "How can you say that?! Princess Celestia gave me this assignment because she trusted me to pull through!"

He quickly said, "I know that! What I meant was, that even if you did fail it wouldn't be so bad because you have friends here that care for you and we like how you keep our spirits alive while running the household."

Twilight sighed again, "Flash… When I first came to this castle I thought I could get him to change his ways but when he had proven himself to be difficult, I was stuck on where I was. And so Spike and I have been here much longer than we thought we would be. I don't regret making the friends that I have and that includes you but I'm Celestia's student, Flash, and I have to go back to continue my studies."

"I understand that, but have you ever thought that maybe you'd consider staying here in case being the princess's student doesn't work out for you?"

She made a sad face, "I know what you're asking, Flash, but remember that agreement we made about us remaining professional and that our duties always came first?"

He slightly frowned, "What if I don't want that anymore? In the time I've known you Twilight, I'm finding it harder and harder to stay away from you."

She shook her head, "I'm sorry, but it just won't work. I have a mission to complete so I can't commit to a relationship right now."

"But what about Spike and Applejack? They're married and so are Soarin' and Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie and Cheese."

"It was Spike's decision to marry and as much as I want him to come back with me, he needs to lead his own life."

"What about your life, Twilight? Will Princess Celestia give you all that you hope for?"

"Flash, this is Princess Celestia we're talking about here. One of greatest alicorn rulers in all Equestria! Of course she's going to have some kind of plan for me!"

"A plan that lets you make your own destiny?"

She bit her lip and admitted in uncertainty, "Er… um… I don't know." then shook her head and stated, "But my teacher has never let me down yet, so I have no reason to doubt her." she started to go, "I have to get going, I need to check the rest of the castle to make sure nothing will go awry while the king and I are at the Royal Summit."

She was gone before Flash could say another word.


She made her way up to the castle's astronomy tower that reminded her of her own astronomy tower back in Canterlot. She knocked on the door before she heard a loud boom! Twilight fretted, "Dr. Hooves! Are you okay?!"

The door opened with smoke escaping the room and a brown stallion with a charcoal face coughed up more smoke as he declared, "Fine! I'm perfectly fine! Don't worry!"

"Were you concocting another potion?" she inquired.

He wiped his face as he responded, "Quite so! As the castle's alchemist, I was on the verge of creating an elixir for his highness."

She furrowed her brow, "And what elixir is that?"

"A removal of the king's curse." he replied.

She gawked before scowling, "That's cheating, and he knows it."

"I thought so too, but then I thought of it as a unique challenge, as in can a simple potion break a powerful spell set by two alicorn princesses?"

Twilight stated firmly, "No. It can't."

"Yes, I'm starting to believe so too. Oh well, looks like it back to my inventions. I still have some kinks to work out in some of them."

She asked, "Do you know where I can find your wife?"

"She should be where she always is."

"Thanks." and she went on.

In moments she found herself in the castle cellar where servants were busy storing and cleaning around the area. She spotted Lyra Heartstrings with Bon-Bon and greeted them, "And how are you two doing?"

"Great!" they replied.

Bon-Bon mentioned, "Of course it helps to have a great friend like Lyra to help me out." she nudged the green unicorn playfully.

Lyra smiled back, "Naturally, you are my best friend and I need to be by your side." she nudged back.

Twilight beamed at their closeness before moving on to see the other storeroom servants working including a gray pegasus with blond hair and golden wall eyes who was bumping into boxes as they fell.

"Oops." she voiced, "My bad." as she tried to put the boxes back.

Twilight thought, And that's why we have her down here, had she been put on kitchen duty or cleaning duty… She cringed at the different scenarios in her head that would result in disaster.

Derpy saw her and inquired with a bright smile, "Hi Twilight! Are you checking the inventory again?"

"Somewhat, I'm checking every area of the castle to make sure nothing can go wrong while the king and I are at the Royal Summit in a couple of days."

Derpy's smile went wider, "The king is going to be gone?!"

Twilight nodded, "But only for a short time."

"Will Marquis Fancy Pants be here to look after things?"

"He will."

Derpy exclaimed excitedly, "Oh good!"

The lavender unicorn commented, "I just saw your husband and he was trying to make an elixir to remove the king's curse, did you know about that?"

She nodded, "Oh, yes. Doc wanted to make it so he could gain the king's favor and that maybe he would tear up our contracts."

Twilight shook her head, "Derpy, that is a strong spell on the king and it cannot be removed unless the king proves himself to be a good ruler."

"Oh…" Derpy gave a disappointed look.

The unicorn gave an empathic look, "I know it's hard on you…" she eyed the other servants and added, "all of you… But his contracts are magically binding and there isn't a spell that could destroy them, if there was I wouldn't hesitate to use it."

Derpy felt reassured by her words.

"Now I have to go and check the grounds." Twilight began to leave and told the pegasus, "Don't worry, things will get better." when she got out of the room she thought with a grimace, At least, I hope they will…

She passed more servants down the halls particularly young stallions that were footmen around the castle. One of them was named Thunderlane and she knew he had a younger brother named Rumble living in the castle. But Rumble wasn't the only colt that lived in the castle there were several other foals that were too. Mainly Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash's sisters: Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. There was also a colt named Tender Taps, and a colt named Button Mash.

Normally the king didn't care for children but as long as they stayed out of his hair then he was okay with them staying in the castle with their parents and siblings. Of course if he had it his way he would make the children work as servants at an early age but thanks to Celestia's child labor laws he couldn't do that. Instead he had to wait until the children were eighteen before he can put them on contract. It made Twilight feel bad that the children didn't have much of a future given they were born inside the palace or brought to the castle by their family. Twilight knew that was the case for Thunderlane and his brother as well as Rarity and Sweetie Belle. But the rest of the children had been born here and that included her friend, Applejack along with her older brother, Big Macintosh.

As she thought of the Apple siblings she found herself outside the castle and on the grounds where she coincidentally met with the head groundskeeper who just happen to be Big Macintosh. But she could see he was longingly looking past the gates and she had to call out to him to get him out of his trance.

"Big Mac… Big Mac!"

The large red stallion looked at her with a, "Huh?"

She told him, "You were staring toward the gates, any reason?"

His cheeks went pink as he let out a clumsy, "N-nope!"

To Twilight that was suspicious but it was none of her business if Big Mac didn't want to say anything which technically he didn't anyway on a regular basis so it wouldn't matter. So she went back to what she was doing and inquired, "So, how are you doing? Any troubles keeping the grounds clean and beautiful?"

He shook his head, "Nope."

"Good. Glad to hear it."

"Eeyup." he stated.

There was an awkward pause between them until Twilight said, "Well, I'll just go back inside now and check up on your sister, how's that?"

He nodded his head.

"And I'll tell her you said 'hi'?"

"Eeyup."

"Okay then, I'll see you around." she went on.


Twilight watched Pinkie and Applejack preparing for dinner and like the rest of their friends, the unicorn had noticed the change in Applejack's face and figure. The earth pony looked fatigued and was starting to bulge. But Pinkie had quickly explained it was because of her secret pastry recipes that AJ was gaining weight. Twilight thought there was a little more to it than that but she didn't press on the subject instead she said.

"Your brother was looking at the gates for some reason, like he was looking for something."

Applejack furrowed her brow in thought and commented, "Uh, that's strange. But then again, Apple Bloom did tell me that Big Mac has been daydreaming a lot recently. Why? I have no idea."

Pinkie pointed, "Hey, come to think of it, weren't you daydreaming a lot when you and Spike were dating?"

Applejack's eyes widen in shock. Could it be? Did her brother have a crush on somepony? There was only one way she could find out. She called out, "Apple Bloom! Get in here!"

The red-headed filly rushed in, and inquired, "Yeah, Sis?"

Applejack stated, "I got a job for ya, think you can keep an eye on our big brother and find out what's making him so dreamy eye lately?"

AB exclaimed proudly, "You got it!" and she ran out.

Twilight frowned and voiced, "I'm not sure it's a good idea to meddle in your brother's affairs like that."

Applejack smirked, "Where family is concern, meddling is necessary. You have a big brother, so surely you know how that feels."

Twilight bit her lip and slightly blushed. She didn't want to admit it but her friend was right. Then she cleared her throat and said, "Well, just make sure that Apple Bloom doesn't get into much trouble while finding the cause of her brother's lack of concentration. I don't want to come back from the summit only for the king to blame her for something that was out of her control."

Applejack assured her, "Don't you worry about that Twilight. My sister has a good head on her shoulders; she'll make sure that things don't take a turn for the worse."

The unicorn mentioned, "Speaking of taking a turn for the worse, I think I better get back to see how Miss Fluttershy and the king are doing at their lunch. I'm pretty sure by now she's told the king she can't love him and he's going to be in a foul mood afterwards." she quickly left the room.