//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 
// Story: Heart of Gold 
// by CartoonNerd12 
//------------------------------//

The royal conference room in Canterlot castle was filling up with more delegates and royals by the minute. The unicorn king begrudgingly took a spot near the head of the table where Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were sitting. Twilight was right by his side and it was a good thing too, because the next king that had arrived was King Sombra with his wife, Queen Radiant Hope as they took a seat right next to the lavender unicorn.

Both kings eyed each other distrustfully before turning away.

Celestia greeted the newcomers, "King Sombra, Queen Hope…"

Radiant Hope smiled and bowed her head, "Your Highnesses."

Sombra also bowed his head in respect.

The king wanted to gag on how goody four shoes Sombra had gotten since he married his queen.

And to think he used to be one of the most feared and hated kings in all of Equestria…

Luna told the royal couple, "I trust the Crystal Empire has been doing well since we last saw you."

Hope replied, "Very well. The Crystal Heart has been doing a good job protecting the Empire and to help spread love all across the kingdom."

Cadence pointed, "I'm pretty sure we need to save the progress reports until the Summit actually starts."

The king spoke up sarcastically, "No! By all means, let's just give our reports right now to save time so that we may leave early!"

Luna rolled her eyes while Celestia address him, "I know you're anxious to get back home, given your… condition…"

"Gee, now's whose fault is that…?" he glared straight at the alicorn.

Twilight scolded, "You know very well it was your fault in the first place. Don't go blaming Celestia here."

The sun princess smiled at her pupil, "Thank you, Twilight," then she told the king, "I know you are angry with me and my sister but we keep telling you that we did it for your own good."

Luna added in, "Everyone in this room wanted to remove you from power but if my sister had not had that premonition of you being a better king then before you would not be here now. So stop your complaining."

The king grumbled under his breath.

The delegates of Maretonia, Saddle Arabia, and Griffonstone had arrived then along with Prince Rutherford of Yakyakistan, Dragon Lord Ember of the Dragon Lands, and King Thorax of the Changelings with his Captain of the Guard and brother Pharynx.

Once everyone took their seats, Princess Celestia addressed them all.

"Thank you all for coming, I know it is difficult leaving your kingdoms when important matters must be dealt with. However, before we begin, I must introduce a new member to our Royal Summit this year."

There were murmurs around the room before Celestia spoke again.

"Mares and gentlecolts, and esteem guests, I would like to present to you," she pointed toward the door as it opened up revealing a tall figure wearing a red cavalier shirt and hat with an ostrich plume sticking out and a cape draped over his left shoulder while holding a cane, "Count Capper of Abyssinia."

The count walked in with everyone staring at him only for the king to say something.

"A cat?! You let an overgrown cat into the Summit?!"

Count Capper found the source that said that and directly said, "Your Majesty, I maybe a cat but I am no ordinary cat, I am an aristocrat, that is to say… aristocat, get it?" he eyed everyone in the room.

Most of the delegates and royals groaned-such as Ember, Thorax, Rutherford, and Luna-while others were pompous enough to enjoy the pun like Prince Blueblood as he made a small clap.

"I daresay he is quite the witty fellow, he must have a seat next to me!"

Capper took his hat off while bowing to the prince, "My most sincere thanks, dear prince of Equestria." before taking his seat.

Celestia addressed the room again, "Now that we have graciously welcomed our newest member of the summit, let us proceed with business."

The king mumbled, "Finally…"



The Summit seemed to have droned on and on in the king's eyes that he found himself starting to fall asleep over the statistics of how trade was going between kingdoms. Twilight was annoyed by his droopy eyes that she gave him a hard nudge to keep him awake. Once that was over, they moved on to the progress reports of the lands which was just as boring.

It pleased the princesses on how well everyone was doing in their kingdoms with one minor exception…

Celestia told the king, "I understand from Twilight that you have not yet lower the taxes on your village."

He retorted, "Of course I haven't! Those taxes are needed to keep our economy going!"

Twilight muttered bitterly, "Or maybe if you would just listen to my suggestions of making an alternative plan, your subjects wouldn't be suffering right now and you wouldn't have that miller come to the castle begging more time to pay!"

He countered, "Ah, but then I never would have discovered he had a daughter who is just perfect to be my queen!"

There was a loud gasp in the room.

The Canterlot Princesses exchanged bewildered looks with Cadence asking, "You are going to be married?"

"Wellll…" he slowly started, "Not yet, first I must win her hoof by her falling in love with me."

Twilight stated, "That was the agreement he made with her."

Luna inquired, "You actually made a deal that allowed the mare to make a decision of her own freewill?"

The king commented, "No, it was her idea, I just simply agreed to it."

Celestia was surprised to hear that, "You actually agreed?"

Twilight said to her, "Believe me, I was just as surprise by that."

Cadence asked Twilight, "What's this mare like?"

But king answered for her, "Why she's the most beautiful mare in the world! When I first saw her, I was blinded by her beauty."

Twilight rolled her eyes but stated, "He's not that far off, Fluttershy, that's the name of the mare is a lovely pony that I've yet to see anyone able to rival her looks. But her beauty is not just skin deep, because she's a very sweet thing as far as I can tell."

Blueblood spoke up, "A mare that's beautiful inside and out? I would certainly love to meet her!"

The king gritted his teeth and shouted, "Back off, princey! I saw her first! She's mine!"

Twilight made a forceful cough, "She is not yours until she says she's yours!" and she secretly thought, Which I hope is never…

Capper suddenly suggested, "You know you have just given me an interesting idea… How about we all make a royal bet on this? If you can make this mare love you we would have to give you some of our wealth to help with your money troubles and if you can't make her fall in love with you, well," he shrugged, "there goes your crown."

The king simmered with him shouting, "Give up my crown?! Never! Never in a million-" until he stopped and thought it over more then with a growing smirk on his face he declared, "You have yourself a bet!"

Twilight shrieked, "WHAT?!"

Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were just as shocked with everyone else gawking.

The king stated, "You maybe new, kid, but I like your style. Which means…" he gestured around the room, "The rest of you better prepare yourselves to pay up once Fluttershy and I are married."

Ember scoffed, "We'll believe it when we see it."

The count motioned, "Good idea, one of us should be there to see firsthand if you can earn the mare's love without false pretensions."

The king challenged, "Are you volunteering then?"

"Well, considering the bet was my idea, it's only fitting." Capper flashed a smile.

"Fine then, you'll come back with us after this summit is over."

The cat smirked, "I look forward to it."

Luna inquired to the room, "Are all of you truly alright with this? For this bet to happen there must be a mutual agreement."

Her sister was taken aback by the younger sister's words, "Luna! Don't tell me you're getting into this!"

The night princess shrugged, "It is an intriguing thing to have happen at a Royal Summit in long time."

Blueblood spoke up, "I must concur with Auntie Luna, Aunt Celestia. These Summits have become frightfully dull…"

The king exclaimed, "Finally! I'm not the only one!"

There were other agreements around the room.

Blueblood added, "At least with this bet we have something exciting to look forward to."

The king questioned, "My wedding?"

Ember answered, "No, as in removing yourself from your throne."

He humphed in reply and muttered, "Just you wait, one of these days…"

The Dragon Lord however heard him, "Your petty threats do not concern me in the least bit."

Thorax nervously chuckled and said, "Okay, let's all keep a cool head here, besides threatening each other is the last thing we want here."

Radiant Hope commented, "I agree. This is supposed to be a peaceful summit after all and if we start arguing and make threats against each other then we are in danger of having a war break out."

Celestia spoke, "That is correct so let us move on to other business before someone says something they will regret. Now, if you all are serious about this bet, we'll let it proceed."

Twilight started to say, "But Princess Celestia-"

The alicorn raised her hoof, and told her student, "When the meeting is over, I will talk to you in private."

The unicorn kept quiet afterwards.



The princesses had gathered in the throne room as Twilight faced them.

"I don't understand, why would you allow this bet to take place? Now he's going to try even harder to get Fluttershy to marry him!"

Celestia stated, "That's what we're counting on."

Her student gawked, "What?!"

Luna took over, "Twilight Sparkle, in every last summit you have attended with him, you have told us that he was no closer to changing his ways then when we first casted our spell on him."

Twilight pleaded, "I just need more time! He's bound to get sick of his cursed form that he'll want to start doing good!"

Cadence pointed, "But it's simply not enough he wants to get out of his curse shelf. He has to have the need to do good for his kingdom and others…"

Celestia inquired, "Does this mare, Fluttershy, have a desire of falling in love in him?"

Twilight motioned, "No. She doesn't. She told me so herself."

Celestia added, "Then we know he's going to have to try very hard to earn her love."

"Are you telling me you actually want him and Fluttershy to fall in love?" she uttered in disbelief.

The tall alicorn wrapped a wing around her, "It's not that we wish for the mare to express her love for him but that it is necessary that she does…"

"But why? He's not worth for anyone to love him!"

Cadence admonished her, "Twilight, everyone has a right to love even those who do wrong. Tell me, has he mistreated this mare terribly?"

Twilight wanted to argue that he did but surprisingly found that she couldn't. Mainly because he had not mistreated Fluttershy to the point of actual harm. Other than him locking her in that tower and not letting her saying goodbye to her family that was just about the only terrible thing he had done to her.

The unicorn slowly started, "Well… no… no, I will admit he's hasn't. He's always telling me and everyone else to treat her with respect and to give her only the best treatment there is. He gave her a suite on the other side of his palace so she could live comfortably while she was there. And he even gave her a pearl necklace after they had a meal together."

Once again, the alicorns were astounded by the king's behavior regarding this mare they keep hearing about.

Luna commented, "It is official, he is smitten with her."

Cadence mentioned, "As the Princess of Love, I can safely tell you that is correct. Because I do believe this is the first time he's ever shown real kindness to any pony."

Twilight countered, "He's only doing it to gain her favor!"

Celestia stated, "That maybe true, but by him doing these things then it could be the start of him taking a different approach in his life. If this mare, who calls herself Fluttershy is the key to him becoming a better being then I encourage that you help this mare find the good within him."

"But-but-but, how can I? There is no good in him!"

Luna said, "And that is why you have failed to turn him around, because you didn't believe that he could be good in the first place."

Twilight was stunned by the night princess's word and hung her head in shame. She sighed and admitted, "You're right… I was just so caught up in making sure I didn't fail that I wasn't focusing on how I could help him change…" She lifted her head and declared, "I will do as you say and let Fluttershy know that she has to see the good in him wherever that is and hopefully that will make him change for the better at last."

Celestia made a small smile, telling her pupil, "Good, but it would be wise if you kept the bet away from her so she doesn't look at him in a more negative light then he already has."

Twilight nodded, "I won't say anything about it."

Cadence supplemented, "And you won't tell anyone else about it, right?"

The unicorn nodded, "I will keep it to myself. I won't tell Spike or any of our friends this."

Luna nodded in approval, "Good, for it is imperative that they fall in love without any interference."

Twilight remarked, "You know it's a good thing he's not here to hear all this, or else he would assume he has already won when he still needs to earn Fluttershy's heart."

Celestia nodded in agreement, "He may have our support in the matter but he is going to have to learn how to receive that mare's love without tricks or magic to get him by."

Her student proclaimed, "I will make sure of that."