//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: Heart of Gold 
// by CartoonNerd12 
//------------------------------//

Queen Fluttershy mentioned to her daughter, "I'm surprise you haven't said anything in awhile."

Screwball replied, "That's because I want you to get to the good parts about you and Daddy."

The mare giggled, "I know what you mean… but in order for that to happen it's important to tell how we got together especially under such dreadful circumstances…




The king stated as he finished his meal, "Well, my dear, I think we can safely assume that lunch was a success, perfect for us to get together in the days to come."

Fluttershy meekly agreed.

"I must go now," he took her hoof and placed a small kiss on it, "But I shall see you again very soon." he got up from his spot and left the room.

Twilight came in shortly after and asked, "How did it go? Did you tell him you couldn't love him?"

She answered, "I was going to but he never gave me a chance to say." she showed off her necklace, "He also gave me this."

Twilight was surprised by that, "He gave you a present?"

Fluttershy nodded.

The unicorn uttered in disbelief, "But he never gives anyone anything…"

Now it was Fluttershy's turn to be surprised and questioned, "He doesn't?"

Twilight shook her head and concluded, "Of course it could be because he's planning on making you his queen and wants to make sure that he can gain your favor."

Fluttershy seemed disappointed by the deduction but it did seem likely.

Twilight asked, "Shall I walk you back to your room?"

The pegasus nodded, "Yes, please, I'm still getting used to where everything is."

The two mares walked down the hallway as Twilight continued to talk, "I assume he told you about being away at a royal summit, right?"

"He did tell me that."

"If you want, you can use that as an opportunity to finish turning the straw into gold, that way when he comes back you had finished the task and you can tell him you can't love him."

"It is a good idea, but since I haven't seen Rainbow Dash in a long time, I want to spend as much time with her as possible. And Rarity seems very nice along with some of the other servants I have met, so I don't mind staying longer just to get to know them."

Twilight inquired, "You and Rainbow Dash are old friends?"

Fluttershy nodded.

Twilight pondered for a bit before saying, "I know where she is right now; do you want me to take you there or do you still want to go back to your room?"

The pegasus replied, "If you please, take me to Rainbow Dash?"

Twilight smiled and nodded while leading the way.




Rainbow, donning silver armor held up a lance as she faced her opponent that was her husband. Both pegasi put on their game face as they prepared themselves to charge at the other.

Soarin' called out, "Sure you'll be able to make good on your threat this morning?!"

Rainbow called back, "Oh, you bet I can!"

"Hey, good idea! We should have some stakes here!"

She smirked evilly, "Oh, I know what I would want if I win!"

"Name it!"

"If I win, we swap jobs for the day!"

Soarin' made a slow dip, "Way to think big, Dashie…" he cocked a brow up and twitched it, "And I'm pretty sure you can guess what I want if I win…"

Her eyes widen as she exclaimed, "Whoa there, big boy, I thought we agreed to take it easy since that time we accidently got drunk and we almost…"

"I know that, Dash, but it gives you the motivation you need to win…" he smirked.

She gapped for a bit before impishly smiling, "You little… How in the world did you get so cunning? When we first met you were never this sneaky!"

"Well when you're married to one of the most scheming mares in the world it tends to rub off on you." he grinned.

She rolled her eyes, "Cute. Very cute." then she declared, "Now are you going to give the signal or am I gonna have to give it?"

In no time Soarin' motion for them to start and they began to charge at each other. Rainbow held on to her lance tightly as she got nearer and upon impact, she saw her husband falling flat on his back.

She proclaimed, "Ah-ha! Victory is mine!"

Soarin' groaned from the soreness he was feeling all over his body, as she walked over to tower over him and pointed, "Come on, I didn't hit you that hard."

He winced, "My body says otherwise, dear."

She gently held him in her arms and said in a mock sweet tone, "Aw, does my poor hubby need something to make him feel better? Do I need to kiss some boo-boos to make the pain go away?"

He smirked back at her, "Well I do feel like I got the wind knock out of me, maybe you better put some air into my lungs…"

She grinned mischievously as she replied, "As you wish." she leaned in for a kiss until a voice shouted.

"This again?!"

They turned in surprise to see Twilight standing there with Fluttershy. Although the butter-cream mare was having a hard time containing in her excitement from seeing the two lovers interact with each other.

Soarin' quickly got on his hooves as he gestured, "We thought we were alone so it didn't hurt to have some flirting."

Twilight exclaimed in outrage, "Some?! You call that some?! You two were almost in a smooch!"

Rainbow countered, "Hey, it's like Soarin' said, we thought we were alone so we thought it was okay."

Twilight sighed in vexation and said, "You're just lucky that Fluttershy here already knows your secret."

Soarin' went up to the shy mare and bowed, "So you're Fluttershy, Rainbow told me about you when she mentioned her childhood to me. And the fact that you're here now under the king's orders as he tries to make you his queen."

Fluttershy nodded, "That's right." then she said, "I know that Rainbow Dash went to the castle to try to become a knight, but what I don't understand is how she met you and why you two got married."

Rainbow exchanged a smile with her husband as she told her friend, "Well you better sit down Flutters, it's a long and awesome tale." Then she frowned, "Even if it doesn't end so happily."

Fluttershy frowned herself and inquired, "What do you mean?"

Twilight replied, "It's how Rainbow became a maid instead of a knight." she told the pegasi, "I have to get back to my duties, but I can trust that she'll be fine here, right?"

Dash responded, "Duh, of course she will be! I'll be looking after her!"

The unicorn stated, "Just what I wanted to hear." she addressed Fluttershy, "And I'll see you at dinner." she went.

When Rainbow and Soarin' got comfortable sitting in the grass, she told Fluttershy, "Okay, obviously you remember the day I went away, right?"

The mare nodded, "Uh-huh, it was one the saddest days of my life but knowing that you were about to follow your dream, I was happy for you."

Dash narrated, "Well, at first I was following my dream and for a moment there it seem like it was coming true. Especially when I had arrived at the palace."

Soarin' took over, "That's when we had crossed paths. You see, I was born in the castle. My dad was a member of the royal guard and my mom was a scullery maid, but anyway, I was in the kitchen getting some delicious apple pie from Applejack…"




Soarin' walked into the kitchen seeing Applejack laying out the many apple pies on the table. He licked his lips at the sight.

Applejack saw him and chuckled, "Howdy, Soarin', ya hungry?"

He declared, "Uh-huh!"

"Well… I suppose it wouldn't hurt if you took one, as you can see I got plenty for dessert."

"Alright, thanks!" he took the closet one in his mouth and went out. He walked down the halls when he came across Flash who commented with a smirk.

"Applejack made her famous apple pie again?"

Soarin' nodded his head.

"I'm not surprised. You just love it when Applejack makes pie."

Soarin' nodded again.

Flash mentioned, "I'm escorting this mare to…" he looked back only to find no one behind him, "Where did she go?" he retraced his steps.

Just then Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle were running down the hall laughing and playing around that when they went past Soarin' they accidently bump into him making him drop his pie.

He shouted in despair, "My pie!"

Suddenly there was a blur that caught the pie with a raspy voice proclaiming, "I got it!"

Soarin' looked up to where the voice was and was shocked to see a cyan pegasus mare with rainbow-colored hair and sparkling red-violet eyes. All the while she was holding his pie.

He said in awe, "You saved it… Thanks." taking back the pie.

She replied, "Hey, no problem."

Flash came up to them as he said, "There you are! You just suddenly disappeared!"

The mare told him, "Sorry about that, I got caught up by all those suits of armor, I didn't notice you leaving."

Soarin' started to eat his pie as they spoke.

"Well please don't do that again, the king doesn't like to be kept waiting and I already announced your arrival."

"Well, let's go then!" she moved forward.

Flash followed after her as he called back, "See ya later, Soarin'!"

The light blue pegasus could only mumble back before going back to his pie.




Fluttershy had interrupted by asking, "Was that when you first fell in love?"

Both Soarin' and Rainbow eyed each other before they burst out laughing.

Dash answered, "Sorry Flutters, it actually took us awhile for us to realize we were having a thing for each other but I do think we had an attraction since that first day."

Soarin' pointed, "No kidding, in fact when I first saw you, I thought you were the most gorgeous creature I ever laid eyes on."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, "I'm pretty sure you only saw me like that because I saved your pie."

"Hey, anyone who rescues a delicious apple pie is an angel in my eyes. Which you were and still are to this day." he smirked.

Rainbow playfully nudged him, "Okay, lover boy, let's not get too sappy here, we still have a story to finish." she faced Fluttershy again and went back to narrating, "So anyway, Flash took me to the throne room where I met the king for the first time…"




The king sat on his throne with no emotion on his face as he looked straight at Rainbow Dash. Then he slowly started, "So… you wish to become a knight, do you?"

Dash proclaimed, "Yes, sir, Your Majesty!"

The king went, "Hmm… well then, we'll need you to prove yourself to see if you are capable to become that."

She exclaimed, "Is that all?! Well whatever it is, I am more then up to the challenge!"

The king seemed to give off a sly smirk as he said, "We shall see…" he called out, "Sentry! Take her to the training grounds and show her what needs to be done."

Flash saluted, "Yes, Your Majesty."




Rainbow recapped, "So Flash did take me to the grounds where there was an obstacle course that the knights use to train."

Soarin' mentioned, "By that time I was on my rounds when I spotted her doing the course." his eyes soften toward his wife, "She was amazing…"

"Yeah, but you were also shocked to learn I wanted to become a knight."

"At first sure, but once I saw how incredible you were being on the course, I didn't fight it because you deserved to be one. And Flash agreed with me."




"She's one of the best I have ever seen." Flash whispered as him and Soarin' were leading Rainbow back to the throne room.

"No kidding! Did you see the way she set a new record!"

"The king will have to let her in."

"I hope so, because…" Soarin' slowly looked back at Dash with a dreamy stare, "She's awesome…"

Flash merely smirked at his fellow guard as they entered the room. He went up to the king as he told him, "She exceeded beyond our expectations, sire, I believe she is more then qualified to join the guard."

The king put on a smile, "Is that so? Well then, I will have to put her on contract before she gets away!" he summoned a long scroll that was written out with only a blank space at the bottom, "I just need your signature to make it official." holding out a quill to her.

Excitement ran through Rainbow Dash as she quickly took the plume in her mouth and wrote down her full name.




Fluttershy voiced, "I don't understand, you did what you had to and he gave you a contract to make you a knight."

Rainbow and Soarin' exchanged sad glances with her saying, "That's just it. He didn't…"




Flash addressed her, "Now that you are a knight, we have to get you fitted into your own armor and-"

The king spoke up, "Not so fast, Sir Sentry."

They turned to him in confusion.

The king continued, "The young mare didn't bother to read the fine print…"

Soarin' didn't like the sound of that.

"It states that I have her under contract as a maid for about the next twenty-five years."

"WHAT?!" they cried out in shock.

Rainbow sputtered, "B-but, b-but you said you would make me a knight!"

The king held the contract up, "I said I would put you under contract, I didn't say it would make you a knight, this is why ponies need to read the fine print before they sign something they'll regret."

Soarin' yelled out, "But what reason would she have for reading the fine print when it seemed she knew what she was getting into!"

Flash scowled, "Yes! You tricked her!"

"Tricked or not, she should have been more careful. Besides, it's unheard of for mares to be guards so keeping her as a maid makes sense." He got down from his throne as he ordered, "Take her to Rarity, she'll show her the ropes." on that note, he left the room with a smug look on his face.

Soarin' could see the distraught on Rainbow's face and went up to her, "I'm so sorry…"

Dash softly uttered, "I was so close… so close to making my dreams come true…"

He put a hoof on her shoulder as he told her, "Had I known he was going to pull something like this, I would have stopped it…"

She gave him a small smile, "I believe you…"




Soarin' stated, "And from that day on, I made a vow to help Rainbow Dash so she could become a knight."

Rainbow smirked, "Of course, what he didn't count on was us falling in love while we trained."

He smirked back, "With each passing day, we grew closer and closer to the point I had to ask her to marry me."

"You mean I had to ask you, you doof."

Fluttershy inquired, "Well, which one was it?"

They glanced at each other before Rainbow replied, "I guess you could say it was both."

"Then how did you get married? The king would've had the authority to make it official but you had to secretly marry and with no way out of the castle…"

Soarin' smiled and commented, "You're a very smart mare."

Dash gestured, "Of course, she is! Fluttershy's not dumb!" she told her friend, "To answer your question, Flutters, yes, the king would have been the only one to marry us were not for the fact he had to leave on business sometimes leaving Marquis Fancy Pants in charge…"

The butter-cream mare put two and two together, "So that means the marquis married you two off."

Rainbow stated, "Correct. And that goes for the other married couples here."

Soarin' said, "And ever since then, we've been keeping it a tight secret from him."

Fluttershy could certainly understand their reasons. Her talk with the king was proof that they can't reveal personal information to his highness without repercussions falling upon them. Making her question, What could've happen to him that would turn him into such a terrible pony…?