Heart of Gold

by CartoonNerd12

Chapter 5

Cheese Sandwich panted in exhaustion as he made his way to the kitchens and fell down the moment he was next to his wife who was in the midst of making a cake. She looked down and exclaimed in concern, "Cheese!" she lifted his head up so he could face her. He looked at her with tired eyes. "My poor Cheesy-weezy! Did the big bad king tell you to make him laugh again?"

Cheese nodded wearily, "He was upset when Twilight told him he had to attend another Royal Summit this week and he wanted me to cheer him up but nothing was working! I tried to show him some of my yoyo tricks but then he cut the string! Then I tried telling some jokes but he knew the pun before I could finish! I don't know why he bothers having me for a court jester if he doesn't like me trying to amuse him!"

"Aw… I know honey, he's such a sourpuss that I doubt there's anything in this castle that can make him smile!"

Cheese stated, "Some days it feels like I'm more of his therapist then jester."

Pinkie inquired, "How so?"

"Well, whenever he's in a foul mood and he starts telling me of his woes, I'm usually there to listen and I try giving him advice."

"I'm guessing he doesn't take it, does he?"

Cheese shook his head and was about to continue talking when Rarity and Rainbow Dash came in with the pretty pegasus he saw yesterday. His wife saw them and she immediately gasped in surprise.

Rarity gestured, "Fluttershy dear, this is Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich."

Cheese smiled and went up to the butter-cream mare and kissed her hoof, making her blush, "We've met before but we weren't properly introduced."

Fluttershy exclaimed, "That's right! I saw you in the throne room when I was meeting with the king."

He chuckled, "That's right, and as you probably can guess, I'm the court jester around here." he turned to his wife, "And this is Pinkamena Diane Pie, my…" he tried to search for a good word without revealing his and Pinkie's marital status.

Fluttershy however guessed, "Wife?"

Both party ponies sputtered and sweated with Pinkie saying, "Wife?! D-don't be ridiculous! We're not- that is to say…"

Rainbow pointed, "It's okay, Pinks, she already knows about the secret marriages in the castle. Fluttershy is an old friend of mine and she promises to not say anything. In fact we had her taking the Pinkie-Promise before we came here."

The couple gapped in shock before Pinkie bounced up and down happily, "Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! This is perfect! We'll finally have a ruler that we don't have to hide anything from!"

Dash proclaimed, "Whoa, Pinkie! Let's get one thing straight, Fluttershy is not staying to marry the king!"

The pink mare stammered and addressed her husband, "But Cheese, you said this was the mare the king wanted to marry!" she went to Fluttershy and began touching her face much to the pegasus's discomfort, "She's just as you described her, what with this pretty eyes, rosy hair, and sweet disposition!"

Cheese motioned, "Well she is!" he inquired to the maids, "Did the king suddenly change his mind?"

Rarity shook her head, "Far from it. She has a lunch date with his highness this afternoon."

The stallion questioned in confusion, "Then why…?"

RD spoke up, "Fluttershy and the king have a deal that if she doesn't fall in love with him, than he would have let her go."

Pinkie exclaimed in awe, "Ooh! That's great! At least she'll be able to get out unlike the rest of us!"

Fluttershy mentioned, "Rainbow did tell me that you all had long-term contracts with him and the fact there are traps around the castle so none of you can escape."

Cheese nodded, "It's true. Pinkie and I tried one night to escape the castle grounds but a trap went off and we force back inside the castle."

Pinkie proclaimed, "It was the strangest thing! There we were, running across the grass when suddenly a platform pushed us up and we were forced back to the castle!"

Cheese stated, "We didn't bother trying it again after that."

His wife added, "You know if it wasn't for the fact that he likes banishing ponies to the Everfree Forest, we would have found some way to break our contracts to him and then he would have just dismissed us on the spot."

"That's basically the big reason why any of us stays in this miserable place." Rainbow Dash pointed.

"My goodness!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

Rarity motioned, "Which is why we're telling you to not fall in love with him, you have a chance at freedom while the rest of us do not."

"You're darn right she does!"

They turned to the voice that said that and saw Applejack as she was entering the room. However it was plain to see how tired she was and that she was a little pale.

Rarity addressed her, "Applejack, dear, I was wondering where you were. You're always in the kitchen this time of day, oh, you don't look so good darling, are you coming down with something?"

AJ stated, "I'm fine. Yes, I got a slow start this morning, but I'm okay now and perfectly capable to work." she caught Pinkie's dubious look and told the pink mare directly, "Besides you know the king doesn't give out sick days, so I'm stuck working regardless." then she turned to Fluttershy and slatted her eyes, "Now you listen good, that low-down varmint has done a lot of terrible things in his time, believe me when I say you do not want to marry that guy at any cost. Got that?"

Fluttershy nodded her head, "If he is as awful as all of you say he is, than I won't fall in love with him."

Applejack sighed in relief, "Good… You're a sensible mare. I was hoping you would be."

"Spikey told you about the deal I presume?" Rarity inquired.

AJ scowled at the unicorn, "What did we talk about callin' Spike that?"

Rarity rolled her eyes, "Oh, please, he was Spikey-Wikey long before you got married to him!"

Applejack gasped and shouted, "Are you crazy?! Why would you say that in front of her?!" she pointed to Fluttershy.

Rainbow assured her, "Calm down, AJ, Fluttershy is cool. She's my oldest friend and she already knows about my marriage and that there are others with a secret marriage."

Pinkie gestured, "And she did the Pinkie-Promise! And as you know…" she got in the cowgirl's face with a scowl, "you can never go back on a Pinkie-Promise!"

Applejack rolled her eyes, "For the love of… I keep tellin' ya! I did not break mah promise! I made sure I would keep the promise without having to reveal my problem!"

Cheese chuckled, "You have to admit it, honey, it was a pretty good loophole at the time!"

Pinkie turned to him with a growl which made him stop laughing and gave a cheesy grin.

Rainbow mentioned, "Yeah, she's still bitter about that, so it's best not to bring it up so much."

Rarity went, "Hmm… Now that I'm getting a good look at you, Applejack, you do look a bit more… and I do mean this in a non-offensive way… But you are looking quite a bit pudgy."

A flash of fear fell across Applejack's face as she tried to explain, "Oh, um, that's well… it's because um…"

Luckily Pinkie came to her rescue, "It's because she's been my new taste tester for my secret pastry recipes! Yeah, they're so calorie filling that poor Applejack has been the victim of gaining a few pounds from them!" she grabbed a nearby wooden spoon full of cake batter and shoved it in Applejack's mouth, "See?"

Content with the answer, Rarity turned to Fluttershy, "Well we better go and prepare you for your luncheon." she muttered under her breath, "Even though it's going to be completely dreary…" she and Rainbow said farewell to their friends and escorted the butter-cream mare out.

Cheese then said, "Well, I got to get back to the throne room, never know when you're needed to make some pony laugh." he peck his wife's cheek before leaving.

Once they were gone, Applejack spit the spoon out of her mouth and sighed happily, "Thanks for covering for me. I knew they would notice eventually, but doggone it, Rarity's keen eye for detail caught it much sooner."

Pinkie inquired, "But why not tell our friends' you're pregnant? It won't be a secret for long once the baby is born."

"I just want to keep them safe from the king's wrath; I don't want to give him a reason to suspect they were in on it, when it was bad enough that you found out by yourself."

The pink mare shrugged, "You had extreme bouts of morning sickness, it was kind-of hard not to notice."

Applejack shook her head, "It was a shock to both me and Spike that I got pregnant all of a sudden. We had always figured that since we were different species that we wouldn't have to worry about it. How wrong we were…"

"Any ideas of when the little one comes?"

"We do have a few… Since Apple Bloom and I share a room, we can have her watching the baby while Spike and I are workin'. And maybe have Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to help her out. Spike agreed to have the baby in his room during the night, since Twilight helped sound proof his room. That way it'll be easy for the baby to cry on without disrupting the castle."

"It's a shame you can't just stay in your husband's room too."

"I know, but it's too risky, and I ain't goin' raise my baby in the Everfree Forest."

Pinkie sadly shook her head, "Applejack, you know how I like to go for crazy ideas, but in this case… it's a recipe for disaster! It's not going to work!"

"Well then, I'm just going to have to tried extra hard to make sure it does work." she gave a determined look and stated in finality while touching her swollen abdomen, "I have to…"

---

Rarity and Rainbow were waiting for Fluttershy to finish dressing behind the screen when she came out she was wearing a simple green dress with matching shoes.

Rarity complimented, "Very nice!"

Rainbow commented, "Yeah, you do." then she frowned, "Too bad you have to wear it for him."

Fluttershy caught the bitterest in Dash's tone making her wonder why her old friend would feel such animosity toward the king.

Just then a knock came at her door and Rarity opened it for Spike to enter in with a bow, "The king is ready to receive Miss Fluttershy for lunch."

With a small gulp, Fluttershy went toward the dragon just as Rarity was whispering to him.

"I don't mean to be rude, darling, but have you notice how much weight your wife has gain recently?"

Spike's brow started to sweat as he stammered out, "It's just… um…"

The unicorn assured him, "Oh, don't worry, I know you don't want to offend your beloved besides Pinkie told us about her taste testing secret pastry recipes, I was just wondering if you had noticed at all."

He nervously chuckled, "I've noticed and I'm okay with it. Applejack's weight doesn't make me love her any less." he thought to himself, It just makes me love her more…

Rainbow motioned, "Good for you! AJ deserves that from her husband."

Spike gasped in horror, "Rainbow Dash! You broke the Pinkie-Promise!" he pointed to Fluttershy who was still standing next to him.

Dash countered, "Did not!"

Rarity interjected, "It's alright, Spikey, Fluttershy already knows."

The dragon was baffled, "Wha… how…?"

The unicorn continued, "Don't worry, we'll explain when you come back. Right now you better hurry or else his highness will lose that foul temper of his."

Spike was still confused but he knew Rarity was right and he quickly led Fluttershy away.

Author's Note:

Updates are going to be on slow side since school is back in session and I can tell this will be my busiest year but please review on this chapter, I love hearing from you guys.

Comments

[Foxhelm]

No pony seems to like working for the king. Well I can't blame them. But maybe they are going about this the wrong way. Maybe instead of discouraging Fluttershy they should try using her deal as means to leverage a wayu out. Maybe have Fluttershy ask the king to demonstrate his 'love' by say letting the staff be happy one baby step at a time.

[Redrose99875]

Lemme guess, Applejack is looking fat because she's pregnant?

[Godslittleprincess]

My big boom senses are already tingling, and I'm only on Chapter 5. Sweet mercy.