//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17 
// Story: Heart of Gold 
// by CartoonNerd12 
//------------------------------//

"PREGNANT?!" they all shouted out expect Pinkie who said with a cheesy grin and shrugged.

"I already knew."

Twilight gapped and gestured, "But how? You two are different species it's not biologically possible!"

Spike motioned, "We thought so too but it was a miracle." and still kept hugging his wife as tears flowed down her face.

Rarity said, "So that's the real reason why you have been gaining weight!"

Dash added, "And why you've been sick…" a look of dread came over her and thought, Oh no! Then that means I am pregnant! She looked down to her stomach, it hasn't bulged yet but she knew that would soon change.

Twilight still couldn't believe it but it explained so much.

Spike addressed them, "So now what?"

A deep voice said, "Now…? You will explain…"

Everyone turned to the voice and much to their horror the king was standing at the door scowling at them.

Applejack saw him and uttered, "No…"

Spike quickly wrapped himself around her to protect her and scowled back at the king in defiance.

The king slowly started, "So… how long has this been going on?"

Spike barred his teeth, "A while now… And if you banish her, you'll have to banish me too…"

"Banish? I couldn't banish her even if I wanted to." the king stated.

Applejack was surprised to hear that, "What…?"

Her husband and everypony around them was just as surprised by this.

"It was in the agreement I made with your parents. I swore to them that I would take care for their children and that means you and your brother and sister have to stay within this castle no matter what. Despite you breaking one of my most important rules, I am bound to keep my promise."

Spike angrily said, "So you're keeping her a prisoner instead!"

The king countered, "My deal with her parents stands. And since it's obvious that the child she is bearing right now is a direct descendant of them, I am also inclined to keep the babe here."

"NO!" both of the expected parents shouted.

Fluttershy quickly went up to him, "Please sire, isn't there other way? Why should you keep them here? Yes, they broke your rule but what choice did they have? They were force to hide their love!"

"Miss Fluttershy this does not concern you."

"Oh but it does! If I am to be your queen, this castle and it's servants will also belong to me!"

"Ha! You don't even want to be my queen! You don't love me so we can't get married so you have no claim here!"

She gawked, "How did you…?"

"Please! It was fairly obvious!"

"But if you knew I didn't love you then why did you bother to let me stay?"

The king stammered and sweated a little, "Well, um… you see…" he gazed out a window to see the sun had almost set and with a sigh he shouted out, "Oh to heck with it!" The minute the sun dropped down and the night sky appeared; he quickly transformed from his unicorn self and into his true self.

There were gasps around him but he ignored them as he focused more on Fluttershy's reaction which was utter bewilderment. He addressed her, "Yes, my dear, it is I. I am the king and the creature you've met, we are the one and same."

Tears began to well in her eyes, "All this time…"

"It wasn't supposed to come to this. But you forced it out of me when you started to show affection toward this hideous monster."

"Because I thought you were a different person!" she retorted.

He crossed his arms, "I knew it… I knew you would change your mind once you saw the truth…"

"You were playing with me! Forcing me to turn that straw into gold was nothing but a pretense!"

Soarin' whispered to his wife, "Straw into gold?"

"I only did that to teach your brother a lesson! His boasting got you here but I would have married you with or without the gold!"

"But you would have kept this to yourself, right? You would have never shown me your curse because you're ashamed."

"Curse? You think this is…? No, my dear, this is the real me. The curse is what you see everyday…"

"What…?"

Rainbow exclaimed, "Whoa! You mean to say that the curse is you being a unicorn?!"

"Correct-amundo, Miss Rainbow Dash."

Twilight told them, "It's true. Long ago, Celestia and Luna stopped him from wreaking chaos across Equestria. They were going to turn him into stone when Celestia decided it was best to turn him into a pony so he would understand the ponies better. That is why Spike and I came to this castle in the first place, it was my assignment to help him be a better king so he could break his curse. But as you know it hasn't gone well."

"This castle is the only way I turn back to my true form. Every night when the moon is out I am free to turn back but when the sun comes up I am forced back into that constricting body. I'm a prisoner of my own castle…" he bitterly told that last part.

Fluttershy pointed, "But don't you see? You treat everyone else your prisoners because of your curse! You feel trap here so you force everyone else to be trapped with you!"

Rainbow, Pinkie, their husbands, and Rarity shouted in agreement, "Yeah!"

"Silence!" he commanded, "I am still your master here! And we have binding contracts that say so!" he faced Applejack and Spike again, "Your child will remain here and that's my final say in the matter."

Applejack burst into tears again and ran out of the room. Spike gave Discord a glare before running off after his wife.

Fluttershy faced him again with a frown, "Why would you do that? Why force them to stay when they don't want to?"

He directly told her, "It's as I told them. I made an agreement with her parents and it will stand, no matter what."

"That's not fair!"

He yelled, "When is anything in this life, fair?! Was it fair of Celestia and Luna to turn me into a unicorn against my will?!"

Fluttershy countered, "It was! They cursed you to stop you from doing harm! Here, you're denying ponies their rights and making choices for themselves!"

"You will say no more!" he practically shouted to her face making her slightly jump but she was able to shout back.

"I will say no more! Because… I have nothing more to say!" She flapped out of the room with tears running down her face.

Discord humphed and he told Twilight, "I'll be in the throne room." and he popped out.

Twilight had watched the entire exchange with sorrow and was feeling divided at the moment. Her loyalties to the princesses and their request still echoed in her head but there was also a loyalty to her friends especially to Spike and Applejack since they were expecting a child and now that the king has found out, he will make sure to keep to his deal. Not giving them any choice in the matter. Fluttershy was correct on that and she wanted nothing more than to congratulate the pegasus for saying that.

Unfortunately she still had a job to do and she glanced at Pinkie and Cheese and hoped they would still be willing to help out. She turned to Rarity, Rainbow, and Soarin'.

"Maybe you three should go check on Fluttershy, see if you can calm her down."

Rarity nodded, "I agree, that poor thing has been through so much." the unicorn went out.

Rainbow and Soarin' didn't say anything and followed after.

Twilight addressed the party couple, "I know it's wrong to ask this of you, given what we've just witness but the princesses are still counting on me to have him change his ways… Will you still help me?"

Husband and wife glanced at each other in uncertainty.




Applejack sobbed on the bed, not hearing her husband at the door and slowly approaching her. He laid himself on the side of the bed and gently wrapped an arm around her while whispering in her ear, "I'll do it…"

She stopped crying to face him, "What?"

"I'll do it." he repeated. "I'll take our baby far away from here after it's born."

"You will?"

"After what I saw and heard down there, I can't bear to see our child forever imprisoned in here…"

"Oh Spike…"

"To be clear," he said in a near broken tone, "I don't like leaving you here, but what else can be done?"

"Exactly… so we need to make the most of it before it's too late. Let's spend every moment together before the baby is born."

"Agreed…" he nuzzled his head to hers and she nuzzled back.




Fluttershy cried into her pillows not seeing Rarity, Rainbow, and Soarin' walking into the room. Dash approached first and stroked her friend's back by using her wing. Fluttershy turned to her with tears still flowing from her eyes.

She inquired, "I suppose you're here to tell me you were right…?"

Rainbow shook her head, "As much as I should, I won't. Because you've been badly hurt by that jerk."

Soarin' asked, "So, you knew what he looked like all this time?"

Fluttershy replied, "Yes, but I didn't know it was him…"

Rarity questioned, "Does this mean that the task you had to do was turning straw into gold?"

"It was."

The trio exchanged strange looks as Fluttershy explained.




Discord sat on his throne as he faced Twilight, "You don't have to say it… I know I lost the bet…" he sighed.

Twilight was shocked by this. She was so sure he was going to come up with plans to make Fluttershy change her mind.

He continued, "No doubt you'll report it to the princesses and I'll be removed from power."

Twilight finally found her voice, "You're… you're willing to give up?"

"What difference will it make? Fluttershy could never love me at this point, not now… not ever…" he turned away from her, suddenly finding the hard wood of his throne more interesting to look at.

The unicorn stood there gapping as she slowly asked, "When you were with her the last few times did the bet even cross your mind?"

He replied without looking at her, "Not once…"

As strange as it was, it was the absolute truth. In those precious moments of being with her, he cared only for her and her wellbeing. The bet didn't matter, only she did…

Twilight was utterly astounded by his statement.

Discord muttered out, "She actually cared for me… she actually wanted to court me as this… I couldn't believe my ears…"

"She… she actually say this?"

"She did…"

Twilight stood silent for a moment before a look of determination came over her face. Using her magic she grabbed hold of him much to his surprise.

"Sparkle! What are you doing?!"

"Stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your life!"

"What?!"

"The princesses didn't want you to know but I was to help you win the bet so you can be with Fluttershy!"

Discord gawked, "What?!"

"Now look, it's obvious you like the girl and if what you told me is true and the fact she was genuinely upset at you like that, tells me she likes you as well!"

"You… you want us to be together? The princesses too?"

"Yes!"

"But it's too late! She won't love me!"

Pinkie suddenly appeared next to him, "Oh kingy, of course it's not too late!"

Cheese also showed up with a big smile on his face, "You care! You really care about her!"

Discord yelped, "Where did you two come from?!"

Pinkie motioned, "Oh, we've been here the whole time, listening in!"

Cheese started, "Twilight asked for our help to get you and Fluttershy together…"

Pinkie finished for him, "And after what happen in the kitchens we were unsure to go through with it until she convinced us to hear if you really care for Fluttershy, and you do!"

The draconequus was amazed and questioned in disbelief, "You'll actually help me win her heart once and for all?"

The couple declared, "Yup!"

"Then what do you think I should do to get her to talk to me again?"

Cheese suggested, "Well you could give her flowers, chocolates, and promises you don't intend to keep!"

"No, no, Cheesy. As much as I agree with you on the flowers and chocolates, it might be too early on the promises he can't keep."

Twilight shook her head at the two, "What we need to do is let Fluttershy have some space before his highness continues to pursue her."

Discord frowned, "Then how long do we have to wait? Or more specifically, how long do I have to wait?"

The unicorn replied, "As long as we have to."