> Someone You Like
>  by AnnEldest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Someone You Like
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

      The sun had not yet risen on that day.
Capper woke up to the steady patter of rain upon the windowsill. His eyes cracked open and were greeted by the sight of droplets upon the glass, which had yet to scatter the nascent rays of the rising sun. From his view out the window, Capper watched as the birds claimed dominion of the morning. Heralds who were the ones to soar with love along with the sunrise. Their chirping brought a calmness to the atmosphere of his dusty bedroom. A soothing melody. A natural lullaby. With eyes as restful as they could get, Capper laid still on his bed, trying to enjoy the blessed moments of solitude. 
He felt as if he was drifting on calm seas, aimless as a child on summer vacation, paddling at ease with the fluidity of time along that ocean of serenity. The song of the rain continued its percussive melody with the birds singing their sweet choir. In the distance, the croaking of frogs joined in with the morning symphony. Though the song played was unrehearsed and impromptu, anyone listening would have been impressed with the performance.
It was a beautiful thing to wake up to. At least to Capper, it always was. Sometimes he would picture himself singing along with them. Standing on the rooftops, watching the world come into focus as each soul tried to convince themselves of whatever reasons they needed to wake up. Capper didn’t have that kind of trouble, because he knew exactly where he wanted to go.
After listening for so long to the song of the morning, Capper sat himself up, stretched any part of him that hadn’t yet woken up, and stepped out of bed.
Though short, the walk to begin his morning routine was invigorating. He went to his bathroom and washed up for the day. Then, he enjoyed a simple breakfast of toast and jam with catnip sausages. For many minutes, Capper sat in silence, slowly eating his breakfast. Just as the last bite was finished, he looked out one of his dingy windows and saw the rain had cleared. In the distance, the first lights of the sun were rising into the sky.
A tiny smile inched onto Capper’s face as he slowly stood up from his empty plate. He put his dishes in his sink, then walked to the door, where he put on his favorite red jacket, grabbed his bag, and stepped out into the morning sun.
The moment he stepped out the door, the sun bloomed on the horizon, shining its golden petals ever outwards into the rich blue. And with his bag slung over his shoulder, Capper began walking down the street. At that hour, hardly anyone was awake. And as sparse as the morning commute was so early in the day, Capper knew where to find true solitude.
He walked along the same path he had always taken. Past the edge of town, up a trail that led into a small wood. It wasn't a long walk from his place. Maybe twenty minutes, but he never minded walking. For him, it was always a good way to clear his mind and was the best way that he could think things out.
The waterways of the woods, the blues and white lace of flowers amid the earthy hues, and the dance of green grass all came together as a kind of visual poetry. One read by the naked soul. Among the golden light that warmed fur so soft and brown, in the tree-filtered air with an aroma both pure and earthen, a new foal was born. A new beating heart and soul to live in that forest home.
There in the center of a million grass blades stood a small tree. Her bark patterned as if carved by her own rain-born flash rivers. She stretched up, proudly standing under the sun in any weather. Capper had arrived.
He sat down in the wet grass, admiring the peaceful atmosphere around him. For most of his life, he never had a spot like that, where there wasn't a single sound that announced incoming danger. Maybe that was what brought him to it. Just for even an hour every day, he could escape the hardships of the world and just appreciate what it could be.
Capper pulled out a notebook from his bag and wrote a few things down. Nothing in particular. Just his thoughts as they came to him. Time passed, and Capper soon packed up his bag. Normally he would have spent a few hours there to relax. However, his time had to be cut short on that day. Many things had to be done before his appointment in Canterlot that evening. And Capper was never one to be late.





That night on the streets of Canterlot, music could be heard from the palace. And if one went closer, they would have heard the happy chatter and laughter of the guests at the Grand Galloping Gala. And if they were to peer in through a window or a crack in a door, they would have seen how the ponies danced, regaled, and made merry with one another. Among them, they would have spotted a cat in a red coat wearing a black cloak and hat with a drink in each paw.
“Pardon me,” Capper said, as he slipped between two dancers.
As he wove his way across the dance floor, he had to dodge his way around everypony else who was there. Finally, he reached the edge of the grand stage at the end of the ballroom, where his friends were waiting for him.
“They can only serve drinks at the other end of the room?” Capper quipped as he passed one drink to Starlight Glimmer.
Starlight muttered in response. Whatever Capper said, she didn’t hear it, as she was busy tuning out Pinkie’s inane bantering to her side.
“Where’s Rarity?” Capper asked.
Starlight nodded to her right, where Capper saw Rarity dancing with her younger sister on the dance floor. With her were Applejack, who danced with Apple Bloom, and Rainbow Dash who danced with Scootaloo.
Nearby, Discord and Fluttershy were engrossed in their own conversation. But, Capper couldn’t be bothered with what they were talking about. His focus was up on the stage itself. He joined the group of ponies who had gathered there and sipped his drink as he listened to Trixie regale the crowd with her usual fantastical tales. Though her tales impressed nopony, Capper always had fun listening to them. Especially the ones that were exaggerated beyond disbelief.
It had been some time since they all had last seen each other. Not since Princess Luna had her powers stolen by Eris, Discord's cousin from another dimension. Without her powers, she enlisted the help of Capper, Tempest Shadow, Trixie, and Stygian to infiltrate Eris’ palace and casino.
Some time had passed since that night, and they all had agreed to never mention it to anyone. Sadly though, Capper hadn't seen any of them since he left. So, it was no surprise that Trixie was excited to find out that he was going to go along with them to the Gala. Some small part of Capper was hoping that he could speak to Princess Luna, if only for a short time. He had heard that she was planning on attending that year, but he felt like he wouldn’t be surprised when she didn’t come for some reason.
Capper never saw himself ever going to the Grand Galloping Gala. He knew that it was by far the biggest party of the year. Anyone who was someone was invited to these things. To his surprise, however, he actually had received an invitation from the princesses. And of course, he wasn't going to decline to join such a big event.
Most of the night had been spent talking with the others and watching them dance. As for himself, he wasn't in the mood to dance. He simply minded his own business and listened to his friend blow her exploits out of proportion.
The song came to an end, and the group by the stage was joined by the others from the dancefloor.
“And so, the great and powerful Trrrrixie was out of the manticore’s stomach unscathed!” Trixie finished her story.
She stood awaiting applause but only then noticed that her audience had diminished down to her friends.
“Oh, that’s a great story. As if we haven’t heard that one…” Discord began counting on his fingers.  “Let’s see…One…Two…A million times!” he said, suddenly growing extra limbs with extra fingers on each hand.
Trixie groaned as she gave him a sharp glare. “It is a great story about The Great and Powerful Trixie. Or perhaps you have a more interesting story to share?”
“Hmm…Let’s see,” Discord pretended to ponder. “I am literally the Lord of Chaos. Anything about me is interesting beyond interesting. Beyond anything that any one of you could comprehend.”
“You mean like how you tried sending one of the party guests to another dimension because he didn't like your jokes?”  Trixie smirked knowingly.
“Please. I sent him on a luxury trip, all expenses paid,” Discord attempted to defend himself.
“Tell that to the guy you did it to. He came back all sticky and smelling like orange juice and cotton candy,” Rainbow Dash chimed in.
Scootaloo giggled and Apple Bloom covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing out loud.
Capper also let out a small laugh, but nopony heard it.
“Well, I thought it was loads of fun,” Pinkie jumped up and down with glee. “I mean, sure, the room full of goo was super scary.” She stopped jumping as she put more thought into what she was saying. “And seeing you send somepony into another dimension…and everypony being scared and not having fun…”
Discord crossed his arms.
“Alright, girls. That’s enough,” Fluttershy finally spoke up. “He already apologized for that. And has Pinkie Pie mentioned that we all ended up having a good time anyway?”
“Why thank you Fluttershy,” Discord wrapped his arm around her neck. 
“In my defense, you did start this by getting upset by me wanting to share an amazing story with others. All you had to do was just keep quiet and listen,” Trixie said.
“You all know I’m the last pony to agree with Trixie, but she’s right,” Rainbow Dash nodded.
“I thought it was a good story,” Capper finally chimed in. 
“See. Capper knows a quality tale when he hears it,” Trixie pointed at him.
“So we're just going to gang up on poor, innocent Discord tonight?” Discord said, twiddling his thumbs as an inmate’s striped uniform morphed onto his body.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Trixie and Rainbow said in unison. 
“He’s right. He hasn’t caused any trouble tonight.” Fluttershy smiled at him. “And I’m very proud of him for that.”
A halo blinked into existence over Discord’s head.
“Yet. He hasn’t done anything yet,” Trixie whispered, receiving small nods from the Crusaders.
Discord glared at Trixie, as the halo over his head blew a fuse and smoked malevolently. He then tossed it away, where it disappeared in a burst of confetti.
“Now seems like the time to walk away from whatever this is. How about I get us some more drinks?” Capper laughed as he started to walk away. His first step was stopped completely when he bumped into Pinkie. “What’s the holdup, Pinkie?”
Her answer was something that he hadn’t expected to hear.
“Is…is that Princess Luna?” 





Luna set down her hairbrush on the bathroom counter. After looking in the mirror and holding her mane up, then trying it down, she decided to keep her mane down for the evening.
She magically grabbed a canister of dye from the nearby shelf and sprayed another layer of silvery-white spray into her mane. Turning her head side to side, she watched her glistening mane swing pendulously from the weight of the curlers on the end. One lock of her mane swung around and jabbed its curler in her lower lip.
“Ow!” she sharply said.
Grumbling, Princess Luna grabbed a pair of shears and clipped off that one lock of her mane, letting it drop to the floor with all of the other locks she had snipped off. When she turned her head the other way, she coughed and sputtered as she got a faceful of her own mane dye.
Luna slammed the canister into the nearby waste bin, along with all of the other canisters she had emptied that night, and wiped her face off with the nearest towel she could reach. When she finished wiping her face off, she looked at herself in the mirror. Nothing had gone particularly wrong, except now the fur on her face had a slight silvery sheen.
She grumbled again and turned to leave out of her bathroom. Only, she had forgotten that she had closed the door and hit the door face first. As she held her throbbing nose, she quickly looked back into the mirror and was greatly relieved to see that she wasn’t bleeding. For another moment, Luna looked at herself in the mirror, analyzing her mane and makeup again.

It will have to do.

She then tried to leave again, and almost walked into the closed door again.
“Oh! For…”
She hastily took her evening dress from the hook on the back of the door, before she magically took the door off its hinges and stepped through to her bedroom.
Once she was back in her room, she tossed her dress onto her headboard. She looked at the clock. The hour was almost upon her. The most dreaded hour of her life. She began to pace back and forth, racking her brain about every little detail of the night.

I could tell Celestia I’m not feeling well. Surely she would understand.

And what would Celestia say? “Come along. We’ll get you some medicine before you have to meet anypony.” Or something to that effect.
Princess Luna’s nose twitched when the faint scent of burnt fabric reached her nostrils. Looking over her shoulder, she yelped when she saw the sleeve of her dress was dangling an inch over the flame of one of her scented candles.
She rushed over to her bedside and threw her dress down to the foot of her bed. Out of caution, or perhaps irrationality, she blew out the candle, then jammed the glowing wick into the soil of her nearby flower pot.
When she examined the dress, she saw that the cuff of the sleeve had only been stained with a little bit of soot, which was easily wiped off. As she held up her dress Princess Luna looked it over. It was a gorgeous black dress, embroidered with organza lace and sequined stars that were pressed on. To go with it, she had bought a pair of black pumps that were made from a material that glistened like water.
She slid the shoes onto her hooves, then held the dress up in front of herself as she looked into her mirror. What would everypony think of her if they saw her in such a thing?
The ticking of the nearby clock drew her attention again. The minute hand inched ever closer to the dreaded hour. An hour she had been dreading for nearly five weeks by that time.
The stress was enough to make her wings molt. And she nearly lost a few feathers when she jumped at the sudden knock on her door.
Princess Luna turned her back to hide her sweating forehead.
“Enter,” she called, hoping she didn’t stammer.
She heard the door open behind her.
“Your highness, Princess Celestia was…Why are you staring at the wall?” said the voice of one of the castle maids.
“There was a stain here I’ve been trying to remove. What does my sister want?” Princess Luna said.
“She was wondering if you were ready to trot with her to the gala.”
“Tell her to go on without me and that I will join her soon. I’m not quite ready yet.”
“Of course, princess,” the maid said. And too quietly for the lunar princess to hear, she muttered, “That must be one serious stain.”
The door closed, and Princess Luna felt some of the tightness in her chest loosen.

That should give me at least twenty extra minutes. 

It was forty minutes later that Princess Luna peered around the corner to the ballroom, where she saw the guests all engaged with one another. 
Then she saw the face she was looking for. Celestia was at the other side of the dance floor talking to Twilight. Twilight, who had worked so hard at putting the event together. Luna assumed it was because of the disaster of the last Gala Twilight attended, which turned out to be the most chaotic gala yet. 
Though it was something that she and her sister looked back on and laughed about, Twilight only remembered it as one of her biggest blunders. The night was still young and it seemed so far that things were working out very well for the young alicorn. It was one of the many reasons she convinced herself to go. 
Taking a deep breath, Princess Luna emerged from around the corner and made her way through the crowd, uncomfortably aware of the many eyes on her.
She smiled as she approached her older sister.
“Sister?” she began
Celestia turned to greet her sister, and her mouth dropped open. “Luna! My goodness. You look so beautiful.” 
Luna bit her lips. “Thank you.” 
“Your dress is so gorgeous,” Twilight agreed with her former teacher. “Rarity made it, didn’t she?” 
“Erm…yes, she did.”
Luna stared back out on the stage, seeing Rarity still dancing with Sweetie Belle. Her eyes drifted to the others off the stage. Only this time there was a new face in the group and it was not one that she was expecting at all.
Sitting on the stage laughing and joking with some of Twilight’s friends was none other than Capper. She hadn’t seen him since he left Canterlot, and had sometimes found herself wondering how he was doing. Then, she caught herself wondering if he could see her. Only, the more she looked, Capper kept talking with no signs that he saw her.
"Breathe, Lulu."
Princess Luna exhaled sharply when she heard her sister's voice, and quickly snapped her gaze to her side.
"Starting the evening with a little whiplash, are we?" Princess Celestia joked.
“Huh?... I mean, no. I just saw an old acquaintance of mine, and I hadn't expected to see him here. Because, after all, he never struck me as the type to attend such a formal gathering. Not that he's uncouth, or some sort of ruffian. He's just--” 
"The guests look like they’re having fun," Princess Celestia said, looking off to the side.
Following her sister's gaze, Luna thought she was looking directly at Capper. For some reason, the way her sister was smirking made her uncomfortable.
Not knowing what to say, Luna simply nodded. 
“I’m just glad everything has been working out so far,” Twilight said.
With a silent nod of thanks, Princess Luna found her voice again.
“Well, with Discord here, we’ll see what happens,” Luna said. She noticed Twilight’s smile drop and she cleared her throat. “I’m just teasing you. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“Oh...I knew you were," Twilight said.
“I think I speak for everypony when I say we're glad you decided to come,” Celestia said with a smile. 
Luna felt her chest tighten up. Her one chance to take attention from herself was blown. Even still, she tried to pull a convincing smile. “I am glad to be able to join you all,” Luna said, shaking her head softly. 
Celestia tilted her head and raised an eyebrow as she examined her sister's painted smile.
Luna in turn kept a hold of her grin, hoping that her sister wouldn’t notice anything was amiss.

She knows something’s wrong. I don’t want to ruin her night. She looked like she was enjoying herself before I showed up.

“I’m going to see how the others have been,” Luna quickly said before trotting off. 
Celestia and Twilight both watched her go. Twilight stared, confused.
"Did she seem a little bit...off to you?" Twilight asked.
"No more than normal," Celestia joked. "However, I'm sure her unexpected acquaintance will take care of her worries for her."
Twilight looked at her former teacher and wondered just what she had meant.
Princess Luna trotted across the dance floor and stopped short of bumping into a dancing couple.
“Erm–Excuse me. Pardon me,” she said, as she walked around the couple.
Whatever the dancing couple said to her, she heard none of it as she nearly bumped into another pair of dancers. This time, she didn’t bother apologizing and simply walked around them. With every step she took, she became more and more aware of the eyes on her. Her steps grew heavy, and her heart felt as if it were going to stop at any moment.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she did end up bumping into somepony’s side.
“Ouch! Hey! Easy with that horn!” a voice said.
“Oh! Oh my! I’m terribly sorry! I–” Princess Luna stopped speaking when she found that she was right in front of the group she had wanted to approach in the first place. Directly in front of herself was Pinkie Pie rubbing her sore side.

Goodness! They’re all staring! I’ve hurt Pinkie Pie, and I look like a complete disaster! Dear, I’m a walking faux pas!

Swallowing hard, the lunar princess decided it best to make amends. Hoping her bangs weren’t too ruined by her perspiring forehead, she carefully began to speak.
“It’s good to see you all again,” she waited for an answer but was met with silent stares, “I apologize for bumping into you, Pinkie. And for…Well…looking like this at a formal gathering.”
“Actually, you look kind of awesome,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Mm-hm,” Fluttershy quietly agreed.
“Perfectly stunning. And your hair. Such an underrated color, if I do say so myself,” Trixie said, flaunting her own silver mane.
“Who cares if you almost poked a hole in my side. You’d just look too good doing it for anypony to care,” Pinkie said.
“Thank you?” Princess Luna unsurely said.
Any other words she could have said froze in her throat when she saw Capper approaching her from the back of the group that greeted her.
“Is something wrong, princess?” Capper asked.
“No. Everything is fine,” Princess Luna assured.
“Oh. I just thought you looked a little overwhelmed.”
“I’m fine,” Luna said, realizing how curt she just sounded, and quickly recomposed herself. “It’s…I just wasn’t expecting everypony to like my ensemble so much. It’s a great relief that you like it so much.”
“It’s great. The new look really suits you,” Capper said.
“I just– It’s only for tonight that I chose this dress,” Luna said, hoping that her face wasn’t as red as it felt.
For the first time that night, Princess Luna felt a genuine smile across her face.
“As Rarity would say,” Pinkie began, forcing Luna to snap back to reality. Pinkie cleared her throat, “Everypony can wear a dress, but not everypony will look good in it.”
“Of course not. Do you think Discord could pull off that look?” Trixie teased.
Nearby, Apple Bloom and Rainbow Dash giggled loudly.
“Alright! That’s it!” Discord said as he stomped into everypony’s view, wearing the exact same dress and mane style as Princess Luna. “First, I find out the princess is wearing the same dress as me! Then you all think she looks better in it!? Time for this bird to fly!”
Discord reached down to the ground and pulled up a zipper that zipped him right out of existence.
They all stared at the empty space where Discord once was until Fluttershy spoke up.
“Trixie! Why did you say that?” Fluttershy said.
“You mustn’t take it so personally. I was only teasing,” Trixie said.
“But, you know how Discord is around others. He still feels terrible about what happened at the last Gala he went to.”
Trixie tried to defend herself, but only nodded slowly in response.
“I’ve got to go look for him now,” Fluttershy said, before trotting off.
They watched her go until Rainbow Dash chimed in.
“I thought it was funny,” Dash said, shrugging.
“Have I missed something?” Luna asked.
“Don’t worry about it. The less you know, the better,” Capper chuckled, as he stepped right next to her. “Anyway, word was that you weren’t coming.”
Luna bit her lip again and nodded.
"I made a promise to come. So here I am," she said.
“I admit, I was kind of hoping you would.”
“Y–You were?”
“Well, we haven’t seen each other since that thing with Eris. And we had kind of a rapport going on, but we didn’t get to talk much. So, I just thought it would be nice to say hi. You know, just to see how you’ve been,” Capper explained.
As she watched, Rarity’s eyes slowly widened as she mouthed her dawning comprehension. Subtly as she could, she nudged her friends further away. All but Rainbow Dash, who resisted Rarity’s gentle push.
“Hey, wait a second,” Dash said, stepping between Capper and Luna, “Since when do you two know each other? And what’s this about Eris? Who’s that?”
“We’ve met once before,” Luna explained. She glanced at Capper and felt a wave of nerves crash down on her. Quickly, she glanced over her shoulder. “I think my sister’s looking for me. It was nice seeing you again.”
“Wait a second,” Capper said. But, she was already gone.
Capper never took his eyes off of Princess Luna, who quickly trotted back across the dance floor. Even as she was dodging the other dancers, he could see a kind of poise and grace that most felines strived to have. As well as she would have done on the dance floor, she was far too uncomfortable to do anything about it. And for the promise that she had made to be there, she could do nothing about her situation.
“Ahem.”
Capper turned around and saw Rarity standing with her hoof barring Dash’s path. She gently twitched her head in Luna’s direction.
At first, Capper didn’t know what to make of the message. But, a sharp nudge from Trixie got him out onto the dance floor, where he quickly dodged around a dancing couple, then made his way quickly after Princess Luna.
“Well, I could have done that!” Dash said, pushing Rarity’s hoof to the floor.
“You, Rainbow Dash, lack the gentle touch called for in these situations,” Rarity said.
“What do you mean? I’ve got the gentlest touch! I could have gotten him to the other side of the room with it!” Dash said.
“Rainbow Dash?”
“What!?” Dash snapped, before she quickly got a hold of herself, “I mean, what is it, Scoots?”
“Me and the girls are getting kind of hot here. Can we step outside for some fresh air?” Scootaloo asked.
While Rainbow Dash was taking care of the foals, Capper was still making his way across the dance floor.
His view of Princess Luna was repeatedly blocked and uncovered by the other dancers. Each time, she seemed to get further and further away from him. For a moment, he thought that she would stop when she met with her sister. However, she only stopped to exchange a few words, before she started walking again.
“Where is this mare going?” Capper thought to himself.
There was a bowl of cider set on a table nearby. He watched as Princess Luna marched out of the ballroom and into the garden beyond. Glancing over at the empty glasses, he knew what he had to do.
By the time she was in the garden, Luna felt the weight of the evening lifting from her shoulders. She sighed to herself as she took a seat on a bench that was set in the center of a ring of tropical flowers.
Next to her personal chambers, the garden was the only place that she could ever go to relax. The grounds crew had long since retired for the night, and the guests were all too busy with one another to want to step outside. The entire place was hers for the night. And she was glad for it.
The hundreds of eyes upon her were just too much for her to bear. She had told her sister that she would only be out for a few minutes but didn’t feel she had the nerve to face the ballroom crowd again. And the gnawing guilt of not keeping her promise to her sister made all of that weight settle back onto her.
“I was a fool to think I could handle this,” she muttered to herself.
Her ear twitched when she heard a soft footfall to her side, and glanced over. To her surprise, there was a glass of cider held in a paw. Looking up, she was at once surprised and relieved to see who had joined her.
“Moonlight and cider. It’s a winner at a party like this,” Capper said.
Luna smiled and nodded as she took the drink and sipped slowly from it.
“So, I’m guessing the party was a little overwhelming for you?” Capper continued.
“Was it so obvious?” Luna asked.
“I don’t think so. Nopony else noticed.”
Luna managed a small chuckle before her light sip turned into a speedy guzzle. Capper looked at his own drink and offered it to her.
“You’d better take this. You look like you need it,” he said.
Luna readily accepted the drink and guzzled it down just as quickly.
“I thought I could do it,” she said, after finishing her drink. “I don’t know why, but I thought I could handle it this time.”
“This time?” Capper asked.
“I never liked going to these galas. Or balls. Or formals, banquets, and soirees. Not even a festivity. All the expectations of me. What clothes to wear. What shoes. How my mane should look. And just knowing that every single mare in the crowd is being compared to me! I’d rather be in my chambers, reading my novels,” Luna said, nearly dropping her glass.
“So, why don’t you? I’m sure your sister would understand,” Capper said.
“I already told you. I made a promise to come,” Luna said, staring at the ground. “It’s no matter. You shouldn’t concern yourself with my problems. I already kept my promise, so I’m going to bed now.”
“And waste all that preparation you did?” Capper said.
Before she even finished her first step, Princess Luna stopped.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I mean, do you always go to all the trouble of styling your mane, putting on makeup, and picking out a gorgeous dress like that just to say hi and disappear? That doesn’t seem very lady-like to me.”
“How ‘lady-like’ it is is not your business,” Luna said, her face flushing red.
She was about to leave again until she heard Capper’s voice behind herself.
“Think of it this way: you, without any hesitation, asked two ponies and a cat you hardly knew to go into another dimension to outwit the goddess of luck and chaos to help you retrieve a power that you lost to her. Yet, here you are at a party full of primping, preening nobles, and you’re about to have a heart attack. How can this be any worse than what you’ve faced before?”
As if against her own will, Princess Luna reversed her steps and sat back down. The moment that she did, Capper sat beside her. For reasons she couldn’t understand, she felt perfectly at ease with him sitting so close to her.
“I know that it’s not really the same thing. Facing down the deity who holds your fate in her hands, then being put on a pedestal in front of every pony in the kingdom. Still, in the grand scheme of things, wouldn’t you rather be loved and adored by everypony?” Capper said.
“I…suppose it is something of a comfort. Knowing that I’m still loved, even if I feel like a disaster,” Luna said, managing a small laugh.
For many moments, the two of them sat in silence, looking at the flowers and listening to the music from inside the ballroom. Slowly, the song that played faded out, and a new one was begun. One that started with a ukulele solo, which was joined by a stallion singing.
Capper glanced over and saw Princess Luna gently bobbing her head along with this song.
“You like this one, huh?” he asked.
“Yes. It’s one I heard as a filly. It’s one of my favorites,” Luna answered. She continued bobbing her head to the tune until she saw the way Capper was looking at her. “What’s that look?”
The only answer she got was Capper’s paw sliding over her hoof before he stood up from the bench.
“Capper, what are you doing?” Luna asked, her face growing redder.
“I just thought that since this is your first Gala since you returned, you might want to unwind a little bit,” Capper said, before bowing slightly. “Before you leave the party, may I offer a dance?”
“I don’t dance,” Luna said, taking her hoof from Capper’s grip.
“And I never land on my feet,” Capper muttered.
“What was that?”
“Let me show you how.”
Luna was taken by surprise when Capper grasped her hoof again and pulled her from her seat. She quickly righted her hooves beneath herself and allowed Capper to keep a hold of her left hoof and place his other paw on her right shoulder.
“Alright. Now, step this way,” Capper said.
To his surprise, or perhaps to his expectation, Princess Luna followed his steps as smoothly as a seasoned dancer. Not even when they changed directions did she fumble or falter.
“Is this your plan? To keep me out longer than I wished?” Luna asked.
“You make it sound so sinister,” Capper laughed. “I’ll tell you what: how about we keep this up until the end of this song? If you do, you can at least tell your sister that you truly made good on your promise and mingled with the crowd. Even if it was with a lowlife like me.”
“Hmph,” was all Luna said.
A gentle pull was felt on her shoulder, and she rose up to her hind legs so that she could place her free hoof on Capper’s shoulder.
From the ballroom, the song continued. The stallion stopped singing, and a mare sang the next verse. The moment the new verse began, Capper noticed Princess Luna’s movements becoming more energetic. She was swaying her hips in time with the music and moving her shoulders in tandem.
“And you said you didn’t dance,” Capper chuckled.
“I’m putting up a good performance to get rid of you,” Luna said.
“Do you think it’ll work?”
Luna smiled slyly.
“Not really.”
For the rest of the song, the two of them danced around the garden. Capper reached out to the side and placed a flower he plucked into Luna’s mane. And for once, she didn’t mind it when she felt her face tinting red again. Of all the surprises she could have had that night, this was surely the greatest.
The last lines of the song were sung by both vocalists. The last of the ukelele’s notes played, and the song ended with Capper twirling Luna around until he let her hoof go.
Princess Luna twirled on her own, before she stopped, facing her partner with a dainty curtsy of her skirt. As if somepony had tapped her on the shoulder and whispered in her ear what she had been doing, her face reddened once more. She raised a hoof, hoping she could cover her ruddy complexion.
"Thank you...I needed that," she said.
"The pleasure was mine, Princess," Capper said, taking a gentlemanly bow.
For another moment, they stood in silence. Princess Luna felt Capper’s paw softly grip her shoulder, and she became aware that there was almost no space between them all of a sudden.
"Shall we make our way back to the party now?" Luna quickly asked.
"Of course," Capper said, motioning toward the door to the ballroom.
With his paw still on her shoulder, Capper escorted the lunar princess back inside. A small part of him couldn't help but smile as he walked her back to the gala. Inside, however, he was beaming.
"By the way, what was the name of that song?" Capper asked.
He waited for an answer.
"Don't tell me you're nervous again all of a sudden," Capper joked.
When he looked to his side, Luna was gone. Looking behind himself, he saw her staring off into the distance.
"Princess? Are-"
"Do you hear that?" Luna suddenly asked. 
"Hear what? The music," Capper joked. He was about to approach her when she suddenly took off. "Oh... great. This again." 
Capper followed her out of the garden. He followed her down a path that led out to the main entrance of the castle. He finally caught up with Luna when she came to a stop. There, he noticed a very large crowd of ponies had gathered at the front of the palace. Even from where he was, he could see the worry and anger on some of their faces. From the middle of the crowd, loud shouts were heard.
This doesn't look good.
"What’s going on over there?” he asked.
“I don’t know. But, I won't let it continue,” Luna said. 
The two pushed through the crowd as the shouting got louder. As they got closer, the sound of a blow landing was heard. And they soon recognized one of the voices.
"Just try and put another hoof on these foals!" Dash growled as she rushed in for another strike.
The other pony, a pegasus, ducked as Dash’s buck went right over her head.
The second Dash missed, both pegasi were pulled back to the edge of the ring by their friends. Behind Fluttershy, the Cutie Mark Crusaders watched in terror at the spectacle.
"There’s always some jerk who tries to crash these things," Capper sighed.
When Capper looked to the group that had pulled the other pegasus back, his heart froze. There, behind the other creatures who held back the pegasus was a face he hoped he would never see again.
Needy was always more rat than a cat. His tiny ears picked up every whisper. His beady eyes saw every detail of misdeeds. And his pointed snout got into everypony’s business. And when he knew others’ business, it became Verko’s business. And now, it seemed, Verko's business was there at Canterlot Palace.
Quietly as he could, Capper shrank back into the crowd, as Princess Luna stomped into the middle of the fight.
"Enough!!!" She shouted in her royal voice, her horn threateningly ablaze.
The entire crowd went silent. All but one.
"So, arrest them already!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"Us!? You started this, cupcake!" the other pegasus shouted.
"Don't you dare take the name of cupcakes in vain!" Pinkie shouted back.
"You're the one who terrorized these foals!!" Dash retorted.
"And who threw the first punch?" said the griffin by the other pegasus' side.
“Quiet!! All of you!!” Princess Luna shouted in her royal voice again. Once the arguing was silenced, she resumed her normal speaking voice. “Now. Somepony tell me what happened here.”
“Umm…”
Princess Luna’s attention was drawn to the source of the voice and was surprised to see Apple Bloom timidly stepping forth.
“I can explain,” the filly said.
“Then, please do,” Princess Luna said, calmly and patiently.
“Well…we all kinda got hot, an’ we decided to get some fresh air. Then Scootaloo had to use the bathroom, so Rainbow Dash went back inside with her. An’ then–” Her gaze twitched to the group of strangers who fought with Dash, “Then that pegasus over there walked up an’ asked us what we were doin’ out here without an adult…”
“Is that all?” Luna asked, wholly expecting that Dash had overreacted.
“No,” Apple Bloom continued. “They just kept talkin’ to us. That’s when Rainbow Dash came over. She started talkin’ with the strangers, an’...Things got ugly pretty quick after that.”
“I see. Who actually threw the first punch?” Luna asked.
“Dash did,” Apple Bloom said.
“Yeah. But only after that cloud sucker pushed her!” Scootaloo interjected.
The other pegasus glared daggers at Scootaloo, who stuck her tongue out at the stranger.
“Your highness. If I may explain,” a smooth, calm voice chimed in. One that Capper had no trouble recognizing.
“You may,” Luna said to the stranger.
“My friends have had too much to drink tonight, and I was helping them away from the party. We simply were intercepted by one of the more temperamental guests and had a small misunderstanding,” the stranger said.
“You shook Scootaloo by her shoulders, jerk!!” Dash yelled before she was silenced by Princess Luna flapping her wing in her face.
“I would rather not have anypony arrested tonight. We will leave it as a misunderstanding, and all go our separate ways. If for any reason our paths cross again on this night, the repercussions will be far more severe,” Luna said.
“Lovely. Perfectly gracious of you,” the stranger said, his arms spread to guide his company away.
The crowd parted to allow the three strangers to depart. Once they had gone, the crowd slowly dissolved and went back to enjoying the party as best as they could. Dash herded up all of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and guided them back inside.
As the crowd left, Capper kept an ear turned to the strangers.
“What the hell were you thinking!?” the griffin said to the pegasus.
“I wasn’t, I guess. Must’ve lost my cool there,” the pegasus answered.
“If you lose it again, we’re dead! Let’s just get out of here, before we draw any more attention!”
First, Verko’s personal stool pigeon showed. Now, there were strangers conspiring on the palace grounds. Capper knew something was wrong but didn’t know how much deeper he could get involved. Especially with Verko.
“Isn’t this just the perfect way to top off the evening?” Luna sarcastically said as she rejoined Capper.
“Huh?!” Capper jumped, before recomposing himself. “I mean– Yeah. Moonlight and cider. A little dancing. And an obnoxious guest as a cherry on top. Let’s go back inside before anything else happens.”
“Well! Either I’m hitting the catnip too hard, or that’s Capper Dapperpaws!”

Shit!!

Luna watched as a smile forced its way onto Capper’s face before he turned around to face the cat behind him.
“Hello, Needy. Looking for a handout?” Capper said.
“Oh! Oh ho ho! Capper, you think too little of me. I don’t ask for handouts. I collect them. And as for you? Rubbing elbows with the royals! My, how you’ve come up in the world. I’m sure the rest of the old gang would love to hear about this.”
That shrewish smile on Needy’s rat face made Capper want to scratch it right off. But, after the brawl that was just broken up, he forced his unsheathed claws into his pockets.
“You two know one another?” Luna asked.
“Oh, yes. Capper and I go way, way, way back. Back in his glory days of hobnobbing with all the social elite. If I recall, me and the boys helped him get that spiffy red coat he’s sporting,” Needy said, rubbing his paws together.
“What brings you to Equestria anyways? Looking for any new ‘business partners?” Capper said.
“No, no, no. Not this time, Capper, my friend. This is purely a pleasure visit. Equestria’s glorious scenery’s well known even in little old Klugetown. And the ponies have all been so nice to a tourist like me. It’s not everywhere that you find folks who are so trusting,” Needy chuckled. “And when I heard that tonight was the night of the Grand Galloping Gala, of all the lucky times to visit, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to poke my nose in.”
“Well, poke it out. You need to get your friends out of here before they cause any more trouble,” Capper said.
“Of course. I wouldn’t dream of ruining this enchanted evening for the kingdom’s best and brightest. So, I’ll be taking my leave of you, and your lovely ladyfriend,” Needy said, taking a false bow as he backpedaled. “I do hope to see you around, Capper. We all miss you back home.”
Capper watched him leave, until the very last moment that he was gone from sight.
“If I may,” Luna began, “How do you know that scoundrel?”
Capper sighed heavily and waved his paw as he turned to leave. It wasn’t something that concerned anypony else. Especially not her.
It seemed that no matter where he went, he couldn’t escape from Klugetown. Wherever he went, something came back to haunt him. And whoever he got close to suffered for it. Sometimes in a way too great to reconcile. In the back of his mind, he felt that he should have known that it was too good to last, even in the land of friendship.






The night had been long and restless. But the morning came with its normal routine, oblivious of the troubles before.
On that foggy day, dew had soaked the entire forest path beyond the town. Drops traveled down the end of a leaf and gathered to form a single large drop of dew. The leaf bent, and the dew fell to the path below. Before it ever hit the ground, it was swiped out of the air by a flash of brown fur.
Capper looked at his wet paw, and watched as the trickles of dew slipped through his fingers and fell to the ground anyway. Shaking those thoughts from his head, he wiped his paw on his leg and continued on his way home.
He hadn’t slept at all the night before. Even as he walked the path he had taken so many times, his paws dragged through the earth, and his mind jumbled with the encounter with Needy. Not even his spot beneath the tree in the grove pushed those thoughts from his mind. As far as he knew, his life in Equestria was over. All the friends he knew. All the lives he had touched. And Luna.
Long after they stopped dancing, he still remembered her face when that song started to play. That sweet melody of the ukulele twanging in his mind like the voice of an old friend. He wondered how he had gone his whole life without hearing it before. And how Luna had danced with him to her favorite song. He wished he could hear it again if only to remember the feeling he had when he danced with her.
He was in the town now. And Capper began to hum the melody of the song to himself. Even then, hardly anypony was awake. And even if they were, nopony would have seen him on those foggy streets. Without even knowing it, he started singing the lyrics to himself. Until he heard somepony else singing them.
His ear twitched, and Capper realized that the song was coming from the direction of his own home. Following the song, the shadow of his house appeared in the fog. And as he walked nearer to his porch, he could see that it was occupied by another dark shadow. The moment that he stepped onto the porch, he saw who had joined him that morning.
Capper announced his presence by placing his weight over his paw, making the wooden porch creak.
Princess Luna gasped quietly as she turned to face her company.
“Hello,” she simply said.
“Hello, yourself,” Capper said, unsure of what else to say. “What– What are you doing here?”
“This is your house, isn’t it? I’m just here because it’s yours,” Luna joked.
“It’s not exactly the ‘it’ place. But, if it’s good enough for royalty…” Capper said, playing into the joke.
Luna stood up and stretched her wings out. Then her legs and her back.
“Why don’t you come in?” Capper said as he unlocked his door.
“I believe I will,” Luna replied.
Once they were inside, Capper took off his coat and hung it up on the rack by the door. The moment he had, he caught Luna looking at him.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing. It’s just…Hm…You don’t look at all how I imagined you without your jacket on,” Luna replied.
“If you were expecting a first-class bodybuilder, you should make friends with my cousin, Lionel.”
A small laugh was shared between the two, and another length of silence.
“Coffee?” Capper asked.
“Please.”
The pot was still warm, and the cups were still out. Capper poured a cup for them both and sat across from her at his table.
Capper only gently batted the cup in his paws as he looked up at Luna. The wafts of steam swirled around with her mane as she lifted the cup and sipped the drink from it. Once she finished, a contented sigh drifted from her mouth.
“I guess I should apologize,” Capper said.
“For what?” Luna asked.
“For leaving you like that at the Gala. I know it was tough for you to even think about going. But, I guess things got too hot for me.”
“You mean with your friend?”
Capper shifted in his seat.
“He’s not really what you’d call a friend. He’s more like an acquaintance that you can’t get rid of. The kind of guy you’re stuck with for life, no matter how badly you want to get rid of him. I’m sure you know the type, being in the friendship business,” he replied.
Luna nodded knowingly, then took another sip of her drink.
“But, exactly how do you know him?” she asked.
She watched as Capper froze across the table before he lifted his head.
“Why would you ask that?” he wondered.
“It seemed interesting to me that somepony like you would ever be involved with somepony like that rat-faced cat.”
“It doesn’t matter how I know him. Just that he’s a jerk that I can’t get rid of.”
From where she sat, Luna could see Capper’s claws unsheathe ever so slightly, and a twinge of worry tremored through her skull.
“Is he…” Luna hesitated to ask for a moment, “Has he caused you any trouble?”
“Not directly. He’s just a backstabbing hairball-hacker who doesn’t know when to keep his big mouth shut,” Capper said, his claws unsheathing more.
“Capper. If he’s going to be trouble for you or anypony, I feel I should know about it,” Luna said.
“You didn’t seem to think so last night. Why is it any of your business now?” Capper asked.
Luna clenched her eyes shut and squirmed slightly in her seat.
“I simply feel that if there is a criminal in Equestria, I should know about it. Surely you understand my concern in the matter.”
“Well, it isn’t. I promise you right here, right now that Needy and his motley little gang aren’t going to be any trouble for anypony else,” Capper said.
“Nopony else, but you?”
Luna jumped as Capper’s claws fully unsheathed and dug into the tabletop.
“What are you trying to drag out of me?” Capper asked, his voice as steady as ever.
“I’m not trying to drag anything out of you. I’m just trying to help,” Luna said.
Capper loosed a long, low sigh as his claws receded back into his paws.
“You shouldn’t bother yourself with things you can’t help,” he said.
“Capper, don’t say that–”
“You can’t help!” Capper said, his voice gradually rising. “Nopony can! It’s something that only I can take care of! And no amount of love, or friendship, or caring is going to do a damn bit of good!”
Luna watched as the cat she saw last night disappeared entirely. Whatever it was behind those slit pupils, it wasn’t the cat she had danced within the garden.
“I see,” Luna said. She placed her drink on the table and slid her chair backward, “I suppose then that I’ll take my leave of you.”
For just a moment, she thought she saw Capper’s face change as she stood up, but she didn’t stop to wonder about it. By the time she reached the door, she paused and glanced over her shoulder.
“Last night, you wanted to know the name of that song. I never got the chance to tell you then. It’s an old song, traditionally sung as a duet by lovers,” Luna said.
“What’s its name?” Capper asked.
“Someone You Like. I thought you’d like to know that.”
And without another word, she left Capper’s home. All he heard then were the sounds of her hooves on the porch, followed by the flapping of her wings. And that was the last he heard of her.
Long after she was gone, Princess Luna lingered in Capper’s mind. Every word she had said replayed over and over in his memory. Every detail of her face, from her bright-eyed arrival to her crestfallen departure. If things had been different for him, she could have stayed. If only he weren’t a lost cause. 
Once again, he started humming Someone You Like to himself. Only this time, he couldn’t remember any of the lyrics, and the melody was different every time he tried to remember it. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t get it out of his head. There was only one thing that he knew to do for that.
By the time his day was done, he went to the nearest music shop and meandered through their entire collection. Though it was only a short time, it felt like hours by the time he found the song he was looking for. It was a single track on a cassette tape, which was sold for a price that didn’t do the song any justice. In no time, he was back at home.
The moment that he reached his house, he scrambled to find his cassette player. Amid the clutter, he was able to find it, open it up, and put the tape inside. Quick as he could, he pressed the play button. Seconds passed, and the ukulele solo started playing. As if a projector had turned on, he began to see images in his mind of himself in the garden with Luna, dancing to the simple strings and the lovers’ duet. Each lyric brought new meaning as he listened to the song over and over, bringing new depth to Capper’s understanding of it.
Capper had to admit, it was probably the best song he had ever heard.
> Experiment Of Destiny
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was still early when the clouds rolled in and gave their rain to the grass and trees. Outside, the summer flowers and leaves drooped under the weight of the droplets. Yet together, they brought such a soothing sound. A natural melody every bit as beautiful as a mother's soulful hum.
The morning rain clouded the window of Capper’s bedroom, keeping him from seeing anything beyond the glass. As he laid in his bed, he replayed the events of the Grand Galloping Gala so many nights ago in his head for the hundred-thousandth time. How so many things had gone right, and so many things wrong. Worst of all was the day after. Every time that Capper remembered the words he had said to her in his house, he hated himself just a little bit. However true what he said was.
Friendship wasn’t going to help him. None of his friends could have understood his situation. And worst of all, if he dragged any one of them into it, he knew he would lose them. And that same situation was already playing itself out again.
If there was one thing Klugetown had taught him, it was that being lonely and being alone were such very different things. So very, very different. In those streets, he was the only beating heart. The only being of warm blood and flesh. The walls around him were doubtless home to many in the fairly recent past, yet now it was an unfamiliar maze to all. The light fell on the words that spoke to nobody, unaware that their audience had vanished, or that the streets are in by own lay silent beneath no boots at all, save his.
Back then, there was nothing to alleviate his loneliness. Now, Capper had found a way to keep himself preoccupied as he holed himself away from the world. After listening to his new favorite song so many times, he decided to learn how to play it.
He reached beside his bed for the ukulele that he had bought the other day. For him, learning new skills was a necessity on the streets of Klugetown. Somehow, music was one of those skills that had escaped him. Still, that didn’t stop him from learning. Even if it was by ear.
For many minutes, Capper sat comfortably, strumming the strings and playing the same four notes over and over. Slowly at first. Then he steadily started picking up his tempo, until it sounded almost like the tune he had come to adore. In another moment, he began softly singing the lyrics to himself.
Any concert that could have been was interrupted by a loud knock on Capper’s door. The first in many days. His eyes alight and his heart aflutter, Capper quickly placed the ukulele on the floor and rushed to his door.
He stopped just short of turning the knob and quickly reached for his red coat. Then, he withdrew his paw, thinking to appear as he was. Before he fully withdrew, he reached for his coat again, then hesitated once more.

Dammit!! How do I look!?

A quick glance in the reflective bauble at the top of the coat rack, and he saw that he was a distorted mess on the round surface.
“Argh…!” Capper quietly growled.
There was another knock on the door.
“Hold on! I’m right here!” Capper said, as he put on his coat with lightning speed, and opened the door even quicker.
What greeted him made his smile change to a stupefied stare. There was a pony standing there, her drenched coat and hat both hanging heavily off her body. Even so, her ear to ear smile was perfectly visible beneath her hat.
“Oh…Trixie,” Capper said.
“So nice to see you too,” Trixie said. “Here, I trot thirty minutes through the pouring rain to see my friend, only to be greeted with a disappointed mumble!”
“I– Sorry. I didn’t mean it to sound like that.”
“Yes. Would you let me in, please? If you keep me out here any longer, I may start to think you don’t want to see me.”
“Oh, no. Who wouldn’t be honored by a visit from the Great and Powerful Trixie?” Capper said, as he stepped aside and gestured Trixie indoors.
“At least somepony understands,” Trixie said, as she walked inside and hung up her raincoat. “Do you always wear your coat indoors?”
“Me? No. Just when I’m…You know…waiting…expecting…” Capper faked a cough and changed the subject. “So, what’s with the surprise visit?”
Trixie eyed him and looked him up and down. For a moment, Capper thought he could see a smirk on the very corner of her mouth.
“What?” Capper asked.
Trixie’s only answer was a hum before she took a seat on Capper’s couch and helped herself to the bowl of sunflower seeds that were set in a dish on the table.
“If that’s what you came over for, those seeds aren’t expensive. I’ll comp you some later if you want,” Capper said.
Trixie swallowed her seeds. And without turning, she spoke again.
“To be perfectly honest, I came because I was concerned,” she said.
Capper leaned against his door frame and crossed his arms.
“What about?” he asked.
“How after the Gala, you seemed to disappear. For all that time since nopony’s seen hardly a whisker of you. It’s…unsettling.”
As Capper listened, Trixie’s voice began to fade. For reasons that he couldn’t understand, his heart began to beat faster, and his head began to fill with a myriad of doubts, hopes, fears, and confusion. Like some unknown danger that wasn’t even there. One that, even so, waited to rear its head and strike.
“Capper!?”
Capper jumped as he was forced back to reality.
“Have you heard a word I said?” Trixie asked.
“Yeah. I’m just…It’s nothing,” Capper said, rubbing his eyes. “Could you, uh, remind me what it was we’re talking about?”
Trixie sighed loudly. “I asked you, ‘where did you go?’ Princess Luna said that you disappeared after Rainbow Dash’s brawl. And none of us could find you afterward.”
“Luna was looking for me?” Capper asked.
“So, she’s just ‘Luna’ to you,” Trixie answered with a smirk. “It seemed like she wanted to speak with you.”
Capper’s brain couldn’t work fast enough to process that. His whole face washed blank, and his body froze.
“She– She was…” Capper stammered, not knowing that a tiny grin had inched onto his face.
“She– She certainly was,” Trixie said, mimicking Capper’s stammer.
Capper’s whole body loosened as he leaned back against the wall.
“I guess that explains it,” he muttered.
“Explains what?” Trixie asked.
Capper sighed as he walked around the couch and took a seat next to Trixie, who scooted over to allow him room.
“After the Gala,” Capper hesitantly began. A look from Trixie goaded him onward, “After the Gala, she came by here.”
“She did!!?” Trixie loudly gasped, “Did she say why?”
Capper nearly opened his mouth to answer, only to realize one crucial detail about that night. Luna never did say what she had come over for. Some small part of him knew that it was about Needy and his gang. But, she may have wanted to talk more about their moment in the garden. Or for him to accompany her to another royal gathering. Whatever it was, Trixie was eagerly awaiting the answer.
“I guess to talk about the Gala. Before the fight, that is,” Capper said.
“Yes. That was quite the upsetting event. I was right in the middle of my story about our escapade across Eris’ roulette table when I suddenly heard Rainbow Dash screaming at strangers,” Trixie said.
“I only got there at the end of the fight. When Luna broke it up.”
“Then you missed quite a show. They looked like fighter jets with feathers,” Trixie chuckled. “Speaking of Princess Luna, you never did say what happened when you ran after our beloved Princess of the Night.”
Capper began to hear the notes of the ukulele playing again in the garden. The feel of her hoof on his shoulder. And the gaze of her teal eyes.
“We just talked,” he answered.
“That’s all?” Trixie asked.
“Well, we talked about one of the songs that played. And what it’s like being a princess.”
Trixie reached for another hoofful of sunflower seeds, but let her hoof slowly fall limp onto the table as she sighed again.
“I can’t keep this up anymore,” she said.
“Keep what up?” Capper asked.
“I know something is going on with you. Something's very wrong.”
“Nothing is wrong with me.”
“Then that’s why you stormed off from the Gala? Why you hide away from the rest of the world in your house? Why you’ve developed this gloomy attitude all of a sudden? This isn’t you, Capper. Whatever it is, I don’t like it.”
“Whatever it is isn’t your problem!” Capper snapped.
He stood abruptly from his seat and stormed into the kitchen. He turned on the sink and cupped his paws under the stream, before drinking heavily and splashing the remainder on his face.
Perhaps against her better judgment, Trixie followed Capper, waiting in the kitchen doorway for him to collect himself.
“Erm…” She began. “I’m not the best at giving advice. But, I can listen.”
“I told you. Nothing is wrong,” Capper said, his claws clenching into the wooden countertop.
“Maybe not. But, whenever you’re ready–”
“It doesn’t matter!!” Capper snapped. “None of it matters! The Gala! Luna! The fight! I already had my chance, and I fucked it up!!”
Trixie watched in mortified bewilderment. For only the hurt in her friend’s voice, she didn’t move from her spot as she watched him bend over his sink.
Capper stared, transfixed at the running water as it trickled down the drain.
“She tried to help,” he quietly said. “She was worried and wanted to help. And I just spat it back in her face! She’ll never want to see me again. So what does it matter? Everything’s just going to work itself out, and it’ll all go back to normal.”
“If you do nothing, things will never be normal for you again,” Trixie said, sterner than she meant. “If you don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine. If you’re trying to convince me that everything will be alright, it’s not going to work.”
“Heh…Heh-heh…” Capper pitifully laughed. “You sound just like Luna.”
“Because I’m sure she would say the same thing.”
There was a flash of green as Capper’s eye glinted when he looked over his shoulder.
“She didn’t,” he said. “After I told her to leave, she just left. And that was it.”
As if some outside force had possessed her, Trixie took one small step toward Capper. She hesitated when she saw his ear twitch before he turned back to the sink. Step after step brought her to Capper’s side, where she stood on her hind legs beside him, and turned off the water.
She glanced at Capper, who didn’t even turn an eye to her.
“It’s difficult, isn’t it? Being in love with a princess?” she asked.
Trixie watched Capper move, not a whisker. He remained with his head slumped over the sink, not even the green glint from his eyes was seen.
“What do you mean?” Capper asked in a low voice.
“I mean what I said. How it must be difficult for you to be in love with–”
“I’m not in love with Princess Luna. That much, I promise.”
“Oh? Then why don’t you have a chance with her anymore?” Trixie provocatively asked.
“Er–” 
“Why does losing your chance make you so upset?”
“...”
“I’ve seen this many times before. You, my feline friend, are in love with the princess of the night,” Trixie said.
There was only silence as Capper’s shoulders lowered, along with his ears. Trixie carefully put her hooves on his shoulders and nudged him away from the sink. Capper quietly complied and allowed Trixie to guide him to the table, where they both pulled out a chair. For just a moment, the grey light through the window silhouetted Trixie’s form, darkening her coat. All but her silver mane. By the moment she sat down, she returned to her normal self.
Capper blinked the image from his mind and took his seat across from her.
Only the sounds of the rain on the roof cut the silence in the room. For many moments, Capper and Trixie sat, barely looking at one another.
“Capper,” Trixie unsurely began, “For what it’s worth, I think it’s wonderful. That you’ve found somepony. It’s not who I would have expected. But, I think it works.”
“I told you already that I don’t have any feelings for Princess Luna,” Capper said.
“Now she’s ‘Princess Luna?’” Trixie asked. “We all saw it at the gala. As soon as you and she started talking, you had a spark. It’s why we encouraged you to pursue her. And if you had stayed, you would have seen how greatly you brightened Princess Luna’s evening.”
“What?” Capper asked.
“She waited for you, Capper. She stood hopefully by, waiting for you to show yourself again. When you never did, she left. And nopony saw her again for the rest of the night.”
Capper sighed heavily and put his face in his paws.
“I just don’t think it would work,” he mumbled.
“What do you mean?” Trixie asked.
“It just doesn’t add up. Look at her. Princess of the Night. Co-ruler of Equestria. Riser of the moon. One of the most important ponies in the kingdom’s history. Then, look at me.”
“Yes,” Trixie said.
“Does this not say it all?” Capper asked, indicating his surroundings. “A two-bit hustler living in a ramshackle house in the armpit of Canterlot, who’s only got the clothes on his back. Clothes he ripped off from somebody who could actually afford them.”
“You shouldn’t say such things, Capper. You’re the most charismatic guy I’ve ever met. You’re probably the only creature who ever trumped the goddess of luck at her own game! Who wouldn’t want you?” Trixie said.
For a moment, Needy’s rat-face flashed in Capper’s mind.
“It’s…complicated,” was all Capper answered.
“It isn’t. I already know your best chance to make everything right,” Trixie said.
For the first time, Capper held eye contact with Trixie. The way she was smiling, he knew exactly what was on her mind.
“No,” Capper said.
“You both want it,” Trixie said.
“No,” Capper repeated.
“Even if things don’t work, your feelings will be resolved.”
“No.”
“I already know how to make it happen.”
Capper said nothing when Trixie got out of her seat and left the kitchen. He sat, wondering what she could possibly be doing. Even as the seconds passed and he couldn’t hear her anymore, he wondered what Trixie was planning.
“Well, come on already,” Trixie said, poking her head back through the door, hat and raincoat donned.
Capper jumped out of his seat and followed Trixie to the door. Quickly grabbing an umbrella from the stand by the door and stepping out into the rainy streets with his friend.
“Come along. We haven’t any time to waste,” Trixie said.
“For what?” Capper scoffed.
“To meet with your princess.”
“You’re saying that like the castle guards are just gonna let in two of the most notorious grifters in the kingdom without an invitation.”
“That, my feline friend, is why we know a certain baby dragon who has a direct line to the princesses,” Trixie said.
As they splashed through the watery streets, Capper thought back to all of the relationships he had before. Sweet-talking rich widows. Picking an unsuspecting pigeon’s pocket. Even getting a date just to infiltrate noble’s mansions. For the first time in a very long time, he dared to hope that he could have something more. Something real.
“You sure this is gonna work? You remember how I said our last talk went, don’t you?” Capper asked as they trotted down a sloping street.
“That’s what apologies are for. Open with that, and everything will be fine,” Trixie said.
“How’s this: ‘Sorry for telling you to fuck off. Want to make out?’”
“It worked for my parents. It can work for you.”
“What?!”
They arrived at the curb at the bottom of the hill.
“It’s a long story. My point is that you can at least try something like that. Or you’ll be left high and dry,” Trixie said.
A carriage sped by, throwing up a massive splash that washed over Capper and Trixie both.
“And you, Trixie, are all wet,” Capper grimly said.
Trixie finished shaking the water from herself.
“O furball of little faith. I promise you that in three months' time, you’ll be sitting by a fire with your princess draped over you like a feather boa,” Trixie said, as she pushed Capper across the street.
Capper briefly imagined such a thing, before he had to hop up to the curb on the opposite walk.
They hurried down the path, loudly splashing with each step. In time, Capper found that they were at the train station. Trixie quickly left his side to talk to the pony in the ticket booth. Whatever they had said, Capper didn’t hear. He simply looked around and saw that he and Trixie were the only two creatures there at that time. Just as he closed his umbrella, he was pushed along by Trixie.
“We’re in luck. The first train to Ponyville’s this way, and it leaves in five minutes,” Trixie said.
Capper found himself suddenly facing one of the trains by the station platform, and yelped as he was practically thrown aboard.
“You’re very pushy, you know that?” he said.
“I’m efficient. Now, get up. The carpet isn’t a seat,” Trixie said, as she stepped over Capper.
By the time she was gone, Capper stood up and chased after her to an empty booth. The two sat across from one another and began their plan.
“Alright. We’re here. What do we do next?” Capper asked.
“We’re going to need to find Spike. He’s going to be either at the castle or at the school,” Trixie answered.
“What if he isn’t?”
“Then Twilight will know exactly where he is.”
“Does that mare ever give him a moment to himself?” Capper wondered.
“I suppose it comes from the whole ‘number one assistant’ job he was born into.”
Capper rolled his eyes, wondering how the little dragon could stand it. Just then, the wooden table between them was lifted and the support was placed beneath it by Trixie’s magical aura. Right after, a scroll, a quill, and an inkwell were magically summoned from Trixie’s hat and placed on the table.
“You did come prepared, didn’t you?” Capper asked.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie is never caught off guard,” Trixie said.
“What’s the number on that carriage that splashed us?”
“Be quiet and help me with this.”





The rain pounded heavily on the crystalline roof of the castle in Ponyville. Somewhere within, loud clattering echoed into the hallways.
In the kitchen, a shaker of spices flew across the room. And it was followed by its shelf-mates.
Atop a stack of snack boxes, Spike balanced precariously as he rifled through the cabinet. He knew they had to be in there. Nobody else in the castle ate them. So, why was he having to practically rip apart each cabinet and cupboard to find them?
Then, he saw it. On the shelf just above him, there was a gleam of yellow. His topaz cream cakes were just there, in the place he put them to save them from himself. Now, his willpower cracked, he was straining his arm to collect them and satisfy his sweet tooth.
Just a little further. Only a millimeter more.
“Spike?”
The little dragon jumped, toppling his stack of boxes. Before he fell, he grabbed the shelf, leaving himself dangling high above the floor.
“I’m on my break! This is my time! It’s my business what I’m doing!” Spike said.
He suddenly realized who he was talking to. There, down on the floor beneath him were Capper and Trixie.
“What are you guys doing here?” Spike asked.
“Sorry to intrude, but we have a minor request to ask of you,” Trixie said.
“Okay. Sure. Happy to help. But, I have one first,” Spike said.
“Right here, little man,” Capper said, holding his paws out.
Spike allowed himself to drop into Capper’s waiting paws, nearly making the cat keel over under his weight.
“So, uh, what can I do for you?” Spike asked.
From beneath her hat, Trixie withdrew a rolled-up scroll.
“We need you to send this letter to Princess Luna,” she said.
“What’s it about?” Spike wondered.
“Just a friendship problem,” Capper said.
“A friendship problem? Why not just give it to Twilight?” Spike doubtfully asked.
“This one’s a little bit beyond Twilight’s normal area of expertise. I think that this is best left to a more experienced hoof,” Capper said, smooth and calm as ever.
“Exactly. Do you think you can send it?” Trixie asked.
“Sure I can,” Spike said.
Capper smiled internally.
“That doesn’t mean I’m gonna,” Spike finished.
“What?!” Trixie and Capper both said.
“If I do this, is it gonna become a regular thing? Because I have other things to do, besides become everpony’s personal maildragon.”
“I promise you that this is a one-time thing,” Capper said.
“Okay. You promise. But, if I do this for you, then I have to do it for everypony. And I’m not gonna let that happen,” Spike said.
Trixie was about to let Spike have a piece of her mind before Capper stopped her with a paw on her shoulder.
“Alright. Let’s make it an exchange. You send the letter, and you get those munchies of yours off the high shelf,” Capper said.
“Deal,” was all Spike said, as he took the scroll, blew a shower of green flames over it, and sent it away in a wisp of smoke.
“I’m glad we got past this impasse,” Capper said, as he jumped up to swipe the topaz cakes from the high shelf and dropped them into Spike’s waiting claws.
The moment that the sparkling pastries landed in Spike’s claws, he stuffed his face with them, grunting for air as he filled his mouth past its normal capacity.
“Er…What do we do now,” Trixie asked, staring in mortified awe at the piggish spectacle.
Spike held up a claw as he tilted his head up and bobbed his neck like a chicken that was nipping flies out of the air. Little by little, the topaz cakes slid down his throat, until he swallowed every last bite.
“It could be a bit–*cough*--depending on how busy Princess Luna is,” the little dragon said, as he toddled over to the refrigerator and took out some milk.
“Guess that means we wait now,” Capper said.
“Yeah. Make yourself at home. Scarf all the snacks you want. But, paws off anything with jewels in it. That’s my stuff,” Spike said, as he climbed up the counter and opened a cupboard. He pointed a claw at Trixie next. “And that goes for hooves too!”
“I think that goes without saying,” Trixie said.
Capper watched as Spike poured out his milk into a glass that he had retrieved. He watched as the white liquid swirled in the glass, thinking more and more about Princess Luna. Idly brushing his paws against the floor, his mind wandered to all of the different possible outcomes to his excursion. At the very worst, she wouldn’t respond at all, wanting nothing to do with a hustler who wouldn’t give her the time of day. But, at the very best…
The kitchen door swung open, and a familiar alicorn stormed into the room.
“There you are!” Twilight practically shouted.
“I’m on my break!!” Spike said, throwing up his hands, nearly losing his glass of milk.
“You’ve been on your break for two hours already!” Twilight said.
“Well, sorr-ee! But, you knew what you were getting into when you signed that contract with me. I’m entitled to an entire sixty minutes of downtime each day. If any of that’s infringed with work, chores, or even personal favors for friends, it counts as work time and I get to put my breaktime on pause. So, maybe you should let everypony else know about our arrangement, and I wouldn’t have to be hung up so long just to get my damn lunch!” Spike said.
Twilight moaned as she rubbed her temple, just before she noticed the company in the room.
“Trixie? Capper? What are you doing all the way down in Ponyville?” she asked.
“They needed me to send a letter to Princess Luna. Something about a friendship problem,” Spike said, as he poured himself another glass of milk.
“Why not just ask me? It’s my job to help others out with these kinds of things,” Twilight offered.
“They said it’s not in your area of expertise,” Spike said.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“Don’t know. I didn’t ask. They didn’t tell,” was all Spike said, before stuffing his face with another topaz cake.
“So, why did you need to send that letter to Princess Luna?” Twilight asked Capper.
“It’s…just a different kind of friendship problem,” Capper said, trying to keep his voice steady.
“Is this why she was looking for you after the Gala?” Twilight asked.
“No. Something just came up then. Right around after Dash’s fight with those other guys,” Capper replied, keeping himself from wincing by pricking his hip with a claw. “Anyway, though, that’s why I’m here.”
“Tell me, Twilight, what do you know about this? The fight, I mean,” Trixie asked.
“I don’t know. One minute, everything’s fine. The next, Dash is whaling on some stranger,” Twilight said.
“Oh, yeah. You missed one hell of a show,” Spike said through a mouthful of cakes, “Man, she was lucky Princess Luna showed up when she did. That mare was gonna make Rainbow Dash into Rainbow Mash.”
Capper didn’t doubt that for a second. Whoever those others were with Needy, they were sure to be tough. If they were in any way involved with Verko, they were going to be nothing less than the worst kinds of scum.
“Twilight,” Capper began, making sure he kept his voice steady and his face straight, “What do you know about those strangers?”
Twilight raised a brow at the cat’s curiosity.
“Why do you want to know?” she asked.
“No reason,” Capper shrugged. “It’s just that Princess Luna asked me about them, but I couldn’t tell her anything.”
For just a moment, Capper hoped that he wasn’t sweating.
“Really? Seems like she let ‘em off pretty easy for a group she was so curious about,” Spike said.
Twilight glanced angrily over at Spike.
“It’s true. Everypony there thought they got off practically scot-free. I thought it. Dash thought it. Even Princess Celestia thought so,” the dragon finished.
“She didn’t mean it like that, Spike,” Twilight defended. “All she wanted was that Luna tried to learn more about them, instead of dismissing them completely.”
For a moment, Capper’s brain stuttered. The idea of Princess Luna learning anything about the fight. About Needy. And especially about Verko. He could feel his stomach tighten at any connection that could be found between him and all of them.
“So, you don’t know anything about them? No idea how jerks like them got to the Gala?” Capper asked.
“Actually, now that you mention it, I don’t remember them being on the guest list. So, the only way they could have gotten into the Gala was if they were accompanying somepony who was already invited,” Twilight said.
“Like who?” Trixie wondered.
“That…remains a mystery. I can think of everypony who was on that list, and I don’t know that any of them would have invited those thugs,” Twilight said.
“You can think of everypony who was on the guest list?” Trixie doubtfully asked.
“Yes. Because I wrote it,” Twilight said.
“Believe it, Trixie. Twilight can read six pages in sixty seconds and memorize every word on them,” Spike said, guzzling down another glass of milk.
“The point is that we didn’t learn anything about them,” Twilight said. “I don’t know about any of you, but I really didn’t like the way they looked. I want to think that it was all just some big misunderstanding, but–”
“But, you don’t,” Capper finished for her.
“No,” Twilight said. “If I was there, I would have at least tried to find out who they had come with and learn about them a little bit. But, they were just…”
“It’s okay if you don’t agree with Princess Luna’s decision to let them go,” Capper said, earning an irritated look from Twilight. “Me? I agree with you. I’m a little upset with her myself that they weren’t dealt with a little more harshly.”
“I-I’m not upset with Princess Luna,” Twilight said, her eyes widened with shock.
“Twilight, I BS for a living. Don’t try BS-ing me.”
“I am not ‘BS-ing’ anypony! And I’d like it if you didn’t put words in my mouth!” Twilight snapped.
Capper’s only response was a low chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked.
“Because, you, Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Celestia herself, have let others off for much worse crimes than disturbing the peace,” Capper said.
Spike’s eyes and mouth went as wide as they could go as he froze on the spot, dropping his last topaz cake. Trixie, who could think of at least one particularly egregious she had been slapped on the wrist for, pulled her hat over her mouth to hide her wry smile.
Twilight’s face wrenched as if she had bitten into a whole lemon as she raised a shaking hoof.
“That…What you…You don’t underst–What would you know!? You weren’t even there!” Twilight said, her face reddening by the millisecond.
Any response was interrupted as Spike belched a green flame that revealed a rolled-up letter.
Trixie’s eyes lit up at the sight of the arrived letter. Without even thinking to use her magic, she trotted over to Spike and took the letter from him by hoof.
It was beyond belief for Capper. After everything he had said, she was actually responding to him. It was too good to be true. Then again, what if it was too good to be true? What had she said in response? Capper stopped himself short of peering over Trixie’s shoulder and found himself grateful that she wasn’t reading it aloud. He felt a weight lifting from his shoulders when he saw the way his friend started to smile.
“Well?...” Capper asked, hoping he didn’t sound too eager.
“She wants to speak with you,” was all Trixie answered.
“Really!?” Capper said, more excitedly than he meant. “I mean, when does she want to see me?”
Twilight looked puzzled at Capper.
“Today, if we can,” Trixie said, before looking back at the letter. “But, she says that she doesn’t want to talk at the castle. She wants to talk at the address she mentions in her letter. So, if we want to meet her, we’d better get on the next train back to Canterlot.”
“Next train leaves in twenty minutes. You’d better get going if you want to make it,” Spike said.
“Then it’s a good thing we have no reason to stay,” Trixie said, as she trotted to the door, taking Capper’s paw in her hoof. “Come along, Capper. The Great and Powerful Trixie leaves nopony waiting.”
In her usual bombastic nature, she dropped a smoke bomb on the ground, filling the kitchen with a thick cloud of white as she and Capper made their exit.
Spike and Twilight coughed for a few seconds before Spike was able to inhale deeply, sucking up all of the smoke in the room until he swelled like a beach ball with eyes. Just as quickly, he deflated to his normal shape and belched out a ring of smoke.
“How do you put up with that garbage?” he asked.
“Same as Discord. You just have to learn to love it,” Twilight said.
“I’d rather learn to hang glide,” Spike said, before jumping off the counter and walking out the door.
Twilight followed after. When she turned down the hallway, she saw Trixie dragging Capper across the end of it.
“They would make a maze of this place!” Trixie loudly grumbled as she trotted on.
“Wrong turn,” Twilight called, “Come back this way to the end of the hall, take a right and keep going straight until you reach the stairs at the end.”
“Thank you dearly, Twilight. We’ve already lost thirty seconds because of these labyrinthine halls. Hurry up, Capper! Your princess is waiting!” Trixie said as she plowed past Twilight with Capper in tow.
“Yeah. Thanks,” was all Capper had time to say before he was dragged down the hall.
For several seconds, Twilight stayed to watch them go, until they were gone from sight.
“What the hay is he doing with Princess Luna?” she wondered.
“Even I know that,” Spike said, as he walked past her with a basketball under his arm. “Still on my break!”





By the time that Capper and Trixie returned to Canterlot, everypony else was up and moving, filling the streets and buildings. Those were among the busiest hours for Canterlot, and Capper was glad that he had gotten everything that he needed to be done before the morning rush. Even though Capper tried over and over to ask Trixie where they were going, she only kept replying with short answers about how he would see, or that they were almost there. After so long, Trixie triumphantly announced they had arrived.
Capper looked up and read the sign aloud.
“Pony Joe’s? The donut shop? Are you pulling my tail?” he asked.
“It’s exactly what was written in the note. She said that anytime you wanted to come by, she’d be there,” Trixie said, showing Capper the letter she received from Spike.
Capper took the letter and read it to the point where he was told to meet her in Canterlot. Right at Pony Joe’s. A strange thought occurred to him. What if he had decided to arrive later in the day? Would that have meant she would have been waiting for him in the donut shop all day?
“What are you standing there for? Stallion up and walk inside,” Trixie said, nudging Capper on.
“You know, they call my species’ males ‘toms,’” Capper said.
“Tom. Stallion. Reynard! Drop the bull and march!” Trixie said, jabbing her horn into Capper’s back, forcing him inside.
Capper’s entrance was less than graceful as he scrambled to stay upright. After finding his footing, he fixed his red jacket and looked around. There were only a few ponies inside. Most of them were waiting in their booths for their orders. After only a second, he saw a glimmer of silver.
There, in the far booth was Princess Luna, her nose in a book and a donut in her hoof. Waiting. Waiting for him. Of all the impossible things. In the light from the window, she looked even more radiant than she did the night of the gala. A thing of beauty in an otherwise ordinary shop.
“She’s lovely, isn’t she?” Trixie asked.
Capper muttered and nodded.
“This would be where you say, ‘yes.’”
“I just can’t believe it still. Her. Here. Waiting for me.”
“She is. So, you’d better start believing it. After all, you’re the one who convinced her to give you a second chance, aren’t you?” Trixie watched as Capper smiled slightly. “Now, go get her, tiger.”
“Tiger?”
“That’s a cat, isn’t it?”
Capper shook his head and focused back on Princess Luna. After a moment, he finally started to approach her.
This was finally it. The dreaded wonderful moment that he imagined. His steps were both careful and deliberate as he walked toward Princess Luna, relieved to see that she hadn’t yet noticed him. But, the way her ear twitched in his direction made him think otherwise. For only a fraction of a second, he stopped walking. Until a tiny smile began to blossom onto Princess Luna’s face.
Without the slightest apprehension, Capper walked all the way to Luna’s table and sat across from her.
“Princess Luna?” he said.
Try as she did, Princess Luna couldn’t hide the hint of a smile on her lips. Shifting slightly in her seat, Capper swore he heard her giggle softly to herself as she marked her page and laid her book down on the table.
“Well, well. The weather pegasi scheduled a rainy day. Yet, here comes the sun,” Princess Luna softly said with her eyes turned to the window.
“That’s just the thing about dark days. There’s always the sun hiding behind them,” Capper replied. “Are we really starting this by talking about the weather?”
“Small, Capper. The greatest things always begin very small,” Princess Luna said.
Capper returned the smile he was given before his eyes fell to the book on the table. Without a word, it was slid across the table toward him.
“Remember Me?” Capper read the title aloud.
“Of course,” Princess Luna said. “It’s one of my favorites.”
“Another one of your bits of ancient pony culture from your foalhood?”
“No. This one was only published fifty or so years ago. Although, reading it makes me feel like a filly again. Not that I’ve experienced what the characters do in this book.”
“What’s it about?” Capper asked.
If Capper had to guess, Princess Luna had hoped he would ask that question, judging by the way she was focusing her whole attention on him.
“It’s a coming-of-age story,” she began.
“Ah,” Capper said with a gentle roll of his eyes.
“I know. But, it’s a little more than that. It’s about these young adults who have lost those closest to them, and have to face their lives on their own. The mare has a strict, overprotective father who controls her very life after her mother was murdered. The stallion in this story, to be blunt, is a complete mess. A chain-smoking alcoholic who shirks all responsibility after his brother’s death.”
“That seems a bit extreme,” Capper said. “We all lose somepony in our lives. Sooner or later, they all go. Of course, you’d know that better than anypony, having been around for so long.”
Princess Luna paused for a moment to nibble on one of her donuts.
“It’s more than that, Capper. These ponies who were lost were like the guiding light to the characters. Something to guide them through their lives to help them along in their troubled times. Like a lighthouse, if you will. Lost without direction, these characters find that their lives have fallen into disarray. But, after finding one another they begin to realize that they must make their own way in order to move on, and finally live their lives happily. Together.”
Capper tapped a claw on the table, mulling over the story in his head. The plate of donuts was slid over to him, and he accepted one.
“I still don’t buy it,” Capper said.
“Mm. Well, I enjoy the story anyway,” Princess Luna said. “Although, I do wonder sometimes…”
“What about?”
“These characters. The lesson that they both learn is how to make their own way through their lives by taking control of its course. To stop feeling so sorry for themselves and to take responsibility for their actions. And yet, they seem to depend upon one another to be able to do so. Even as they struggle to overcome their problems, it’s as if nothing has really changed in them.”
Capper idly circled his claw around the hole of the donut he had taken, before he picked it up.
“I…guess that we like to think that being in love will fix everything. But, what most creatures don’t realize is that to keep that love, we have to solve those problems ourselves. Love isn’t some all-powerful force that will change the world. No, I think it’s more like…It’s a smaller force that’s a part of everypony that makes just that one creature change for the best,” Capper said. He glanced up when he noticed Princess Luna giggling.
“My, my. I had no idea you were such a romantic,” she said.
“Look who’s talking. The book. The song. Picking this intimate little shop over the royal patio. I got a feeling there’s a side of you that even your sister doesn’t know about,” Capper said.
Luna began to laugh but quickly stifled it as she took another nibble from her donut. “I’m sorry about the other day.”
“What?”
“The other day. At your house. I did…some things there that I’m not proud of.”
“Like?” Capper egged her on.
“When I was there, I didn’t mean to pressure you into telling me anything that you didn’t want to. I was only trying to please my sister,” Princess Luna said.
“What do you mean?”
“She thought that I went too easy on those troublemakers at the Gala, and wanted me to learn more about them so that she could investigate them. I’m sorry. I should have been honest with you. Can you forgive me?”
Capper sighed and shook his head. “You’re stealing my lines, Princess.”
The answer he got was a confused stare.
“Prin–Luna. I came here to apologize for yelling at you. And for just being a catty little bastard in general. I guess I judged your intentions a little too quickly and took my anger out on you. And I’m so sorry for that,” Capper said, hoping he sounded as calm as he thought he did.
Of all the responses he could have heard, Capper never expected laughter. Soft, melodious laughter that somehow raised his spirits when he heard it coming from Luna.
“I’m not mad at you, Capper. Nor was I ever,” she said.
“Same to you,” Capper said, finding himself joining the laughter. For a moment, he thought back to his dance in the garden, just before Needy ruined his night. “I’m just so sick of all this bullshit.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Luna laughed as she took a sip from her glass of milk.
“I guess this means we’re square now?” Capper asked hopefully.
“Water under the bridge,” she said. “That is the saying, right?”
“That’s the one.” 
For a moment, neither said anything, allowing nothing but the chattering of all the other ponies in the shop to fill the ambiance. In the deepest parts of his mind, something was telling Capper that his moment had arrived. The moment where he would take control and start making things right for himself. And she was allowing it. Waiting for it. Expecting it.
“Luna,” Capper began, “I have to confess. I didn’t come all this way from Ponyville just to apologize to you.”
Luna said nothing, but Capper could feel her silent urge for him to continue.
“I have also come on behalf of somepony else,” Capper bombastically said, “To assist her in an experiment unlike any other ever conducted.”
“Twilight, you mean?” Luna knowingly said.
“Not this time. As you can see,” Capper said, guiding her gaze to the table where Trixie sat, “Our little, blue friend is trying to make her acting debut by pretending to read a magazine.” He leaned toward Trixie’s direction and squinted. “About knitting? I had no clue she was so domestic.”
“If she could even pretend to be domestic, she’d get an award for that performance,” Luna said.
“Anyways, she wanted me to assist her in exploring something that she noticed.”
“And what might that be?”
Luna was surprised again when Capper put his claw on the plate of donuts and tilted it so that the topmost donut rolled off into his waiting paw, then broke it in two.
“I guess if there’s anything to take away from your literature,” Capper said, drumming his fingers on the cover of the book, “It’s that the universe is an unknowable, unthinkable strand of random, unrelated events that lead to something that makes sense in the end. Just like those two ponies who found one another, we come from very different places. Warmed and cooled by different summers and winters. Never meant to, and with no reason at all to meet. Yet,” he placed the two halves of the donut together, “here we are.”
Luna reached for another donut and fondled it in her hooves.
“It certainly sounds like an interesting experiment. Even if I still don’t know what it’s about,” she said with a smile on her face.
“Call it an experiment of destiny. To see if there was a reason why we had met the way that we did.”
Luna leaned forward with her chin on her hooves. “And how does she propose we test this?”
This was it. Capper chose his next words carefully.
“By spending more time with one another while learning about ourselves. Perhaps at the next big event in Canterlot.”
Luna’s silence was less than reassuring. Moreso was how she leaned back from him. “I…see,” she quietly said. “I do appreciate the offer. I’m flattered, really. But…erm…I don’t do so well in these types of experiments.”
“Why not? You have all the criteria. Intelligence. Talent. Style. Beauty.”
“I–” Luna stopped herself from laughing as her face turned red. “Do you really think this kind of flattery will get you anywhere?”
“I’ll admit that I wasn’t really prepared for this,” Capper shrugged.
“That’s surprising. I thought you would have been rehearsing what to say on the train ride over here. And, while I do admire your boldness, it was something of a foolish attempt.”
“Oh? Then, what did you invite me here for?”
Luna opened her mouth to speak but froze before the first syllable ever left her throat. Capper didn’t even bother to smirk as he leaned forward.
“Listen. Usually, when I meet a girl like this, it’s part of some scam. It’s what we in the biz call a ‘honeypot.’ But, I didn’t want to just take something that I didn’t earn this time. That’s been my whole life, up until I met Rarity and her friends. And I…I guess that this time I wanted something real. Not just another hustle.”
As Capper spoke, Luna’s face slowly morphed to a blank slate. By the time the last word was spoken, her eyes had fallen to the donut before herself. Her hoof broke off a piece of the glaze before she motioned Capper closer. A beckoning that Capper obeyed, as he leaned across the table. He was taken completely by surprise when Luna quickly leaned in and placed her lips next to his ear.
“Meet me in the palace tomorrow night at eight o’clock. I’ll let the guards know you’re coming,” she whispered.
“That–works,” Capper said, barely able to contain his voice. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Don’t keep me waiting.”
When she leaned back into her seat, Luna was smiling sweetly before she stood up from the table.
“Everything’s already been paid for. Feel free to finish my leftovers,” she said, as she walked out of the shop.
Capper watched her leave and thought for just one moment that the way she was sashaying her hips was for him.
“Not bad,” Capper whispered to himself before he bagged up his donuts.
He got up from his seat and walked across the shop to where Trixie sat. Quietly as he could, he walked over to her and whipped the magazine out of her hooves
“Hey! I was reading that, asshole!” Trixie said.
“No, you weren’t,” Capper said, taking a look at the magazine pages. When he did, his eyes went wide. “Well, well. I never took you for a health nut,” he said, showing Trixie the second magazine that she had stuffed inside the one about knitting. The one with oily, muscular stallions showing the proper way to do a barbell squat.
“The–The Great and Powerful Trixie appreciates all things grand and–and–”
“Vascular?”
“Be quiet!” Trixie said, taking her magazine back and hiding it beneath her hat.
“So, things went well,” Capper said, as he and Trixie walked to the door.
“I know. I heard everything. ‘An experiment of destiny?’ Did lines like that really work on widows and naifs that you targeted before?” Trixie said.
“Nah. Usually, a quick compliment about their furstyle was enough for those sheltered airheads. With Luna, I guess I tried to be genuine for the first time.”
They left down the street toward their next order of business for the day. Unknown to either, they were being watched from a nearby corner by a certain princess, who watched them go until they both disappeared into the crowd.
“Ohhhh…What have I gotten myself into?” she said to herself.
> Heaven Is...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some time had passed since the moon was raised for the night. And for the thousandth time that night, the tip of a pencil was dragged across a page of Princess Luna’s sketchbook, scratching out abstract images of stars and planets, rocky desert canyons, quaint little villages where the ponies slept under the stars, and fanciful boats on a river.
With her headphones over her ears, Princess Luna hummed along with the song she had been listening to on repeat for longer than she had remembered. The strums of the ukulele sweetly reverberated in her ears, and the mare and stallion duet filled her mind with what wonderful things they sang about.
It wasn’t until her dance in the garden with Capper that she remembered what a beautiful song it was. How perfectly it captured the feeling of young love. Of course, it had been many, many, many years since Luna was young. And love was something that she had never been able to experience with her royal duties. And of course, her downfall and banishment to the moon. Through it all, the song reminded her of everything that she had missed.
The picture was nearing completion. Eyes were drawn gazing into one another. Hooves were drawn gently clasped around their partners. And the soft glow of the moon poured down its crystal rays from its silver face, caressing all beneath it with its velvet touch, just as the song finished its last notes.
Princess Luna looked over her latest work, appraising it silently. With the details added, she may well place it on her wall of fame. Glancing over to the wall, she saw all of her favorite works. The mare who stood in the fields of golden grass, staring coyly from the portrait into the eyes of her lover. The one with the bride marching down the aisle, seen from the view of where her groom would have stood. And finally, the very first drawing she had ever placed upon that wall. The one with the mare and a stallion sitting across from one another at a restaurant table, facing away from the view out the window at the rainy streets of some unknown city in Trottingham.
It had never crossed her mind before but Princess Luna began to wonder who those two were. If they were longtime lovers, or simply strangers who simply happened to share that table on that day. Or, perhaps more likely than she had known, she thought that they were two ponies who had met once or twice before and were finally meeting for the last time before they went their separate ways.
Princess Luna sighed to herself. Of anypony who she could have thought about sharing a date with, Capper was probably the last cat, let alone any creature, that she thought it would ever be. After all, what Capper had said was true. They truly had no reason to meet with one another. It could have been any other creature. And as it happened, a cat with a bad luck streak had crossed her path. A cat who had no interest in her status or her riches. Who made her feel at ease with herself, even at the formal gatherings she couldn’t stand. Best of all, who she could be completely honest with.
Luna mouthed the last words of the song as it finished once more.
“Princess Luna?”
“Knock next time!!” Princess Luna shrieked as she slammed her sketchbook shut and rolled out of bed in one fluid movement.
To her everlasting shock, there stood the maid who had fetched her on the night of the Gala. The maid herself stood with an expression of pure surprise.
“I-I’m so sorry! I tried to knock, b-but you didn’t answer,” the maid said.
“No, no. I’m sorry. I thought you were my sister. She’s been known to treat my room as her own,” Luna said, keeping her voice steady.
“Oh. I see,” the maid managed to chuckle. “Erm, I was informed by one of the guards that somepony is waiting for you.”
“Say again?”
“Somepony is waiting for you. They said that they were to meet you around eight o’ clock,” the maid said. She raised a curious brow, “If I may ask: who is it you’re meeting? And why at this hour?”
Princess Luna wasn’t listening. Her eyes were cast directly on the clock on her nightstand, where the hands rested firmly on eight-thirty.
“Oh, no, no, no!” she said, bolting to her wardrobe.
“We could tell your friend to come back,” the maid suggested.
“No!” Luna nearly shouted. “Tell him to wait for me in the royal garden. I’ll be ready in–in just a moment.”
Dress after dress flew out of the wardrobe, until the maid watched her princess drag out an entire rack load and drop it on the bed. When she watched Princess Luna catch her hoof on a dress she had dropped, fall on her face and scramble across the floor to her bathroom, she decided to silently take her leave.
Princess Luna reached up to the counter and pulled herself up from the floor. Without even looking in the mirror, she magically picked up a brush and started yanking it through her mane. By the time she had looked in the mirror, she began applying lipstick and picked up a can of mane dye and tried squeezing it into her mane.
Empty.
“Damn!” she silently cursed.
She placed the can on the counter and turned her head to look for more, only to smear her lipstick across her snout when she did.
“Oh!!”
She slammed her brush and lipstick onto the counter and roughly opened a drawer to retrieve a cotton pad. Perhaps she slammed the counter too hard, as her mirror fell loose from the nails that it hung from.
Quickly, she backed away from the falling mirror and caught it with her magic and hung it back on the wall, quickly reaffixing the nails into the wall as she did.
She looked at her reflection, seeing yet again a mess of a mare who was only going to make a fool of herself in front of everypony. Was she making too big a deal of things? Was trying to make everything just so going to ruin her? Slowly, Princess Luna started wiping away the smeared lipstick, reapplied it slowly, brushed her mane with only minimal styling, and only curled her eyelashes. When that was done, she looked at herself in the mirror, turned her head, threw her mane over one shoulder, and parted her lips ever so slightly. Surely this was the ‘inner model’ she had heard mentioned by ponies like Rarity.
When she left her bathroom, Princess Luna took almost no time to choose from the dresses she had strewn about. There, lying before her was just the one. A strapless purple gown that she hadn’t worn since she bought it the year before. Simple. Elegant. Perfect. Quickly, she slipped the dress on and took one last look at herself in her bedside mirror. Why had she not put that dress on sooner? She looked so good in it. But, she couldn’t admire herself for too long. She had a date waiting for her.
She quickly trotted out of her bedroom and down the hall. Before she ever reached the corner, there was a sudden wall of white fur and an aurora-patterned mane.
Two loud ‘oofs’ sounded as Princess Luna backed up and saw her sister shaking her head.
“Oh, my. So sorry, sister. I didn’t see you coming,” Princess Celestia apologized.
“Nor I. So sorry,” Luna said.
“Goodness. Where are you going in such a lovely dress?” Celestia paused a moment as a smirk crawled onto her lips, “And in such a hurry?”
“I…” Luna paused. She had always been open with her sister, but had no idea how to tell her about her plans with Capper, “I’m…going to help somepony who has been having nightmares as of late.”
“I see. How polite of you to make yourself up for your appointment,” her sister joked.
“It’s at a very formal household. No riff-raff allowed. Terribly sorry. Can’t stay any longer. I’m late enough as it is. Farewell.”
And she practically ran past her sister, all the way down to the garden doors. When she arrived at the glass doors, she hesitated. With one last breath, she opened the doors and wandered into the garden. Even though she hadn’t said where in the garden to meet, she thought she knew just the place to go.
Sure enough, there was Capper, lying on a bench, looking up at the stars, surrounded by tropical plants. Slowly, she approached him from behind, thinking to surprise him. Until she saw his ear twitch.
“Could but one little star be enough to light the sky? To guide us to that fabled paradise, where new worlds are found and heartbreak is forgotten?”
Luna froze, wondering just what he was talking about. Suddenly, the cat rose to his feet but didn’t turn around.
“You kept me waiting, Princess. And after you so earnestly asked me to not keep you,” Capper said.
“I–Yes. I’m so sorry. I was just so caught up in–No. There’s no excuse for my tardiness. How can I apologize for our lost time?”
“Apologies aren’t necessary. Not tonight, at any rate.”
Luna watched as Capper hopped off the bench. As he spun around in the air, she swore time froze for just a moment when their eyes first met. And with a soft thud, he landed on the grassy ground, dressed in a dapper black coat and hat.
“That’s some dress you got on,” Capper said, cool as ever.
“Th…Thank you. It’s a Dream Amaranthine,” Luna said.
“It’s fitting.”
“What do you mean?”
“You mean in a thousand years, you don’t know?” Capper said with a smirk, “Amaranthine isn’t just the color of that dress. It’s defined as something that stays beautiful forever.”
“I…I…” Luna could barely contain her smile as she flushed red and turned away from Capper. “I was just telling you the maker of this dress.”
“The mare has good taste. Not as good as my girl, Rarity. Check out these slick threads she made me,” Capper said, showing off his new ensemble.
Luna bit her lip as she looked Capper over in his dark clothes. Before, she never noticed how toned his body was. Then again, it was always hidden by that sleek fur of his.
“So, what’s the plan, Luna?” Capper asked.
“What?”
“I know it’s traditional for the man to escort his date, but I’m still a little new around here.”
“Oh. Yes. Follow me. If we go now, we’ll be able to just make it,” Luna said. She offered Capper her shoulder. And when his paw rested on top of it, they made their way out of the gardens.
Beyond the palace grounds, the nightly streets of Canterlot were much more lively than Capper had once thought. Though the atmosphere was very quiet and subdued, the streets were brightly lit by the many lamps, and the ponies mingled about. As they walked, many of the passersby stopped to look at their reigning princess with a dapper stranger.
“This is it,” Luna said, as she stopped before a building.
Capper looked up and was awed by the great pink neon sign, which was written in a language that he didn’t recognize. Wherever it was, it was beyond anything that he had seen in a great long while.
They walked inside and were greeted by a stallion behind a podium. No words were exchanged between him and Princess Luna, before he ushered them into the dining room.
“Take your hat, sir?” asked a colt who stood by the door.
“Sure thing. Keep anything you find inside,” Capper said, as he gave his hat to the colt and took his ticket.
The colt was about to ask what he meant, before Capper and Luna were led away to their table. When he looked inside the hat, he found ten bits just laying there. He didn’t question how, but he gladly followed the cat’s instructions and took them all.
Capper and Luna were led to their seats, somewhere near the edge of the dining room in a small, private area. Still, the maitre’d said nothing, but smiled knowingly as he offered two menus and a wine list. As soon as it was offered, Luna politely pushed the list back. The maitre’d nodded and bowed his way out, leaving them their privacy.
For a second, Luna thought Capper may have said something, and quickly opened her menu as wide as it would go. Capper tried to peer around the menu, only for it to shift to whichever side he tried to lean. Deciding it was best to let her engage him on her own time, Capper opened his own menu and started looking it over.
Luna’s eyes danced across the menu, repeating its entire script for the fifth or sixth time. By then, she had almost memorized what she wanted for each course of the meal. And with every line she passed over, she became more and more aware of her reflection in the menu’s laminated surface. How her mane could have been worked a little bit more. How just a light dusting of shadow would have brought out her eyelashes. And perhaps some rouge to hide any impending blushing. She tried to put her mind at ease with just a little small talk. Just a small word about how good the truffle salad looked. Or what that lovely smell was from somewhere nearby.
That smell? It was something smokey, but with a sweetness underneath it. Something that she had never experienced before. And it seemed to be coming from very nearby.
Slowly, Luna started to peer out from behind her menu.
“Ready to order yet?” Capper asked.
“Hm?”
“You’ve been looking at the menu for almost five minutes,” Capper said.
“It…seems that I have,” Luna said, casually closing her menu. “At any rate, I suppose we should just wait to be serviced. You have chosen, haven’t you?”
“Of course. I was thinking for the first course, this tuna pate with sweetbread sounded good.”
“Tuna? How feline of you.”
“There’s a reason stereotypes exist,” Capper joked. “How about you? What’s your first?”
“I think…I’ll have the…ruffage du whitewood,” Luna said, glimpsing back to the menu.
“What’s that?”
“It’s just a fancy word for a salad made from the leaves of whitewood trees.”
“I’ve never heard of whitewood trees. What makes them so fancy that they get made into salads at posh places like this?”
“They’re just very fancy trees,” Luna said. She tapped her menu on the table, then lowered her gaze as she held it up.
“Something wrong?” Capper asked.
“I told you that I’m not so good at these experiments…” Luna quietly said.
“Oh. I see,” Capper said. He waited a moment before he leaned over to try and meet Luna’s eyes. “I’ll be honest with you: it’s been a long time since I did anything like this. I was really nervous that I’d mess something up.”
“Were you?” Luna asked, lifting her gaze ever so slightly.
“Yeah. I actually wore cologne for the first time to do this. Just so if something goes wrong, I’d smell good doing it,” Capper chuckled.
That sweet, smokey smell registered to Luna again. And if she really concentrated, she thought she knew where it was coming from.
“That cologne? What is it, exactly?” she asked.
“It’s tobacco/vanilla. I got it back in Klugetown,” Capper said.
“Mm…It makes you smell lovely.”
Luna slowly put her menu back down and raised her eyes ever so slightly. She wasn’t even aware as her cheeks reddened again.
“I feel like I must tell you: I’ve…never actually done anything like this before," she said.
“You’re joking?” Capper said.
“I’m afraid not. It’s just that between my royal duties and other…certain unpleasantries, I haven’t had much of a chance to meet a stallion. Much less catch the eye of one.”
“That can’t possibly be true,” Capper said. “Regardless of being a princess, you’re easily one of the most beautiful ponies I’ve ever met. I don’t have a doubt that hundreds of stallions have looked your way, only to be turned away by the idea that you’re way out of their league.”
Luna was silent as she rubbed her hoof across the tablecloth. Finally, she spoke.
“I was very young when I became a princess,” she began. “I so wanted to see and do the things that all of my peers were. But, all I was ever shown was the ways of royalty. And with that comes the fear that anypony who likes you likes your crown even more. And then there was my, shall we say, ‘fall from good graces.’ I was still quite young when that happened, and I spent a thousand more years missing out on all of the things that I so yearned for. Even though I was only a few years older than you during that time, I still have to learn everything that creatures like you did over their lifetime.”
“Is that why you decided to dye your hair?” Capper wondered.
“It’s one reason, I suppose,” Luna shrugged. “I just don’t want to live my life in a bubble. I want to do things. Real things. Things that scare me. That’s why I agreed to go to the gala with my sister.”
“For what it’s worth. I’m really glad that you did,” Capper said, earning an appreciative smile from Luna. “I don’t know if it’s the same thing, but I think I know how you feel. Even before I ended up in Klugetown, I was running with thugs, pickpockets, fences, and all those other seedy types. I never really had a chance to live a normal life. Even now, I’m still adjusting to what it’s really like out there. I just feel like I wasted so much time that I have to make up for.”
“If I may say so, I think this is a great start for us both,” Luna said, smiling as she turned her gaze from Capper once more. Then, she slowly met his eyes. “Capper. I must ask, whose idea was it for me to participate in this experiment? This…date? Was it truly Trixie’s idea?”
For just a second, Capper didn’t know whose idea it really was. But, the more that he thought about it, he thought he might have known.
“I think what happened was Trixie was pressing ideas that one of us already had,” he answered.
“Do you mean you and Trixie, or you and I?” Luna asked.
“I think only you can answer that for certain,” Capper nodded. “So, you’ve never been on a date before?”
“I’m what Spike has called ‘socially awkward.’ Most ponies learn very quickly that I’m not like my sister.”
“What do you like, anyway?” Capper asked.
“Like?” Luna wondered.
“Hobbies. Interests. That kind of thing.”
“Oh. Well, reading is always a passion of mine. And drawing. Most ponies don’t know this, but I hardly go anywhere without my sketchbook. And the theater,” Luna said.
“Theater?” Capper said, his eyes lighting up.
“Yes. I’ve never performed. Nor would I. But, I always loved watching the shows onstage. All the colorful sets. The craft that goes into building them. And the actors, there, live and in person. I’ve always wondered how they felt up there, standing before a hundred spectators, baring their emotions to them all.” She rubbed her hoof more across the tablecloth. “I’m sorry. This must all sound so strange to you. I must seem strange…”
“I don’t think so,” Capper said. “I think we all get a little nervous when pressured. I was before this date started. Then I saw you in the garden, and it all just melted away.”
“That’s sweet of you to say,” Luna said. As a smile slowly bloomed onto her lips, she lifted her menu to hide her girlish grin. Not high enough to hide her gaze, which she kept firmly on Capper. Quietly, she cleared her throat. “Capper, what’s something I don’t know about you?”
“What’s that?” Capper asked.
“You say all the time that you’re nothing but a second-rate hustler. But, I think there’s more to you than that. What’s something that you haven’t told me yet?”
That same feeling of a twisted knot welled up in Capper’s stomach. But, after the encounter with Needy and the unpleasant exchange in his house, he felt that there was more to himself than he wanted to reveal. He drummed his paw on the table, trying to think of something to tell Luna. Something real that he wouldn’t have to gloss over.
“I…like writing,” he pitifully said.
“Really?” Luna said, quickly placing her menu back on the table, “What precisely do you write about?”
“Just anything, really. Whatever comes to mind. There’s no real train of thought when I start doing it,” Capper said.
“Do you want to be an author?”
“Not really. When I was a kitten, I wanted to be a singer. Not just any singer. I wanted to be one of those guys who wrote their own songs that they sang.” Capper sighed quietly. “I guess it was too big a dream for a small timer like me.”
“You shouldn’t say such things. It’s never too late to reach for a dream, no matter how far off or daunting it may seem. Most of the greatest inventions started out like a dream. And the world’s most successful children’s author couldn’t read or write until she was in the sixth grade. And then…Here we are, like this,” Luna said.
Capper grinned. If anypony had told him a year ago that he would be having a candlelit dinner with the Princess of the Night, he would have waved them off. That night, there he was, sharing himself, his hopes, his dreams with Princess Luna of Equestria.
He glanced down when he felt Luna’s hoof set on top of his paw. For the first time, he felt something inside of him that he couldn’t define. Something beautiful that he couldn't put into words. It was at once uplifting and heartwarming, like a first kiss or a smile that was long, long forgotten.
“Th…Thank you. And I really mean that,” Capper said.
“You’re welcome. And I really mean that,” Luna giggled.
They both suddenly became aware of the waiter approaching them. Somehow, Capper had lost his appetite. Not in any bad way. His mind was suddenly on something else.
The dinner was eaten. Over the five courses that they ordered, hardly any more words were spoken. A few bites of food were shared, one of which ended up with Luna getting a spot of bordelaise sauce on her snout. Something that Capper didn’t tell her, and she didn’t figure out when he didn’t stop giggling. By the time she cleaned herself off, she magically raised the plate of meat he was eating to lightly slap him on his nose, giving him a matching blemish.
Laughter and joy were shared for the rest of the meal until the two of them paid the bill and left into the lively nighttime streets. For just a moment, they thought that they could hear music somewhere. Where it was, or even if it was real, neither could tell. Whatever it was, they couldn’t have asked for a better complement to their evening.
“Thank you, Capper. It’s been fun,” Luna said.
“‘Been?’ You’re saying that like the night has to end so soon. I don’t see any reason why we have to rush it to the end,” Capper said.
Luna’s smile grew suddenly larger. She knew exactly where they could spend the rest of the night. A place filled with fun and games, prizes, and parties.
“Capper? Have you ever been to the Canterlot boardwalk?” she asked.





Even from a distance, laughter and voices blended together among the groups of friends who gathered at the Canterlot boardwalk for some late night fun. After their first steps onto the wooden planks of the boardwalk that overlooked the valley, it all flowed into Capper and Luna. A welcoming, heartwarming place where the good times never ended.
“Looks like one hell of a place,” Capper said.
Luna said nothing. She only smiled broadly at the sight. She had gone there so many times with her sister when they were younger, and never tired of what was to be found there. And after having been away for so long, it was all the more overjoyous to be there with somepony like Capper. Without any warning, she ran ahead of him.
“Whoa! Luna, where are you going?” Capper said.
“To see the boardwalk, silly! Come along! The night won’t last forever!” she replied, before continuing her excited rush into the midway.
Capper wasted no time running after her. She was always some ten or fifteen steps ahead of him, rushing from booth to booth, seeing what they had to offer. But, Luna never stayed long. Only a second for Capper to call her name, before she dashed to the next attraction. In time, Capper lost sight of her.
“Luna! Wait up!” he called.
He looked around, not able to see mane or tail of Luna. The very last place he could conceivably think she had gone to was to the juggler straight ahead of himself.
Capper approached the juggler, who was tossing several styles of hats into the air, letting them land on his head one after the other, rolling them across his shoulders, twirling them two at a time on his hooves. And all the while dancing madly.
“Hey!” Capper called.
“Hm?” the juggler said, letting the black pork pie hat land on top of his messy, black mane.
“Did you see Princess Luna come by here?”
Capper was taken completely aback by the answer.
“Who’s that?”
“Y–You’re kidding, right?” Capper said.
The blank stare of the juggler told him the answer to his question.
“Wait. The alicorn in the purple dress. She went–”
“Capper!”
Before the juggler ever finished answering, Luna came trotting back to Capper’s side and grasped his paw.
“I’ve found it! My favorite game here! Come with me! Hurry! Hurry!” she said, dragging Capper away.
Capper was pulled by his paw through the crowd for what felt like a hundred feet, until Luna stopped before a booth where a basketball hoop hung above a wall loaded with fuzzy stuffed animals.
“A hoop shot?” Capper said.
“Yes! It’s always been my favorite game here ever since I was a filly!” Luna said.
Capper watched Luna’s beaming smile, then glanced to the wall of prizes.
“Which one of these plushies catches your eye?” he asked.
Luna hummed quietly to herself as she scanned the shelves. It was only a moment later that her face lit up. “The panda. I must have it!”
Capper looked to where she pointed, and saw a stuffed panded that was half the size of Luna herself. Having gotten his start as a hustler with things like this, Capper already knew that there was some catch.
“How many shots do we get?” Capper asked the game’s operator.
“For a prize like the panda? Three shots in a row,” the stallion at the booth said.
“Seems simple enough,” Capper said.
“You’d be surprised,” the operator said, tossing a ball to Capper. “Normally, it’s five bits a game, but I’ll put this one on the house, seeing as you got royal company tonight.”
Capper twirled the ball in his paws and looked pensively up at the hoop. He pulled the ball to his chest, crouched slightly and made his shot.
The ball bounced off the edge of the backboard, and into the safety net below it.
“That’s one,” Luna said.
“There goes our shot at a panda. Let’s try to get one of the two shot prizes,” Capper said.
He aimed again. He shot again. He missed again.
“Damn!”
Before he could grab another ball, Luna took it in her hooves. She aimed carefully and sent the ball through the air right through the hoop. All net.
“It seems I’ve still got it,” she said.
“One shot. That’s worth at least this turtle,” the operator said, offering the stuffed prize.
“Put it back. We came for a panda. We’re leaving with a panda,” Capper said, placing his five bits onto the counter.
“Perhaps I’ll take the next shot?” Luna offered.
“Sure. See if you’ve still got it. Luck, that is,” Capper said, rolling the first ball across the counter to Luna.
Luna smirked, aimed the ball and shot again. And there was another swish of the net.
“Aren’t I the one who’s supposed to win you something?” Capper joked.
“I suppose so. Then again, I always end up getting what I want for myself,” Luna replied.
“I’m sorry, are you saying that you got your own powers back from Eris?”
Luna’s ears dropped and she stared blankly at Capper.
“Very well,” she said, passing the second ball to him, “You make the next shot. But, it’s going to be your bits if you need to try for the panda again.”
Capper assumed his position and carefully analyzed the trajectory of his throw. From the hoop to where he was, it was only about fifteen feet. And the hoop itself was only about eight feet off the ground. But, there was still something off. Only one way to find out.
The ball sailed from Capper’s paws again. It flew threw the air and hit the back of the hoop, then bounced into the net.
“My, my. Impressive,” Luna said.
Impressive. That was exactly the word to describe it. Impressive that he made that shot, even though he could now see how the game was rigged against him. The way the ball had bounced was not in any way it should have. Not if the game was set up fairly. Capper looked at the panda, and a devious smile crawled onto his face.
“Wait,” he said, before Luna took the last ball. “Let me take the last shot.”
“If you really feel you’re up for it,” Luna said.
Capper took the last ball and aimed again. Not to the basket this time. His aim was a little higher.
Pulling the ball directly to his chest, Capper thrust his arms directly forward as hard as he could. The ball rocketed into the backboard and bounced off. Not upward, as it should have. Instead, it shot directly back to Capper, hitting him squarely in his face, taking him off his paws.
“Capper!!” Luna gasped. She knelt down and lifted his head, “Capper, are you alright?”
“Better than that…” Capper moaned. Through his spinning, foggy vision, he could see the shocked face of the game’s operator. Capper pointed an accusing finger at him, “I knew it…Shenanigans…”





It wasn’t long after that Capper was lying against the side of a gigantic panda with Luna pressing an ice pack against his forehead.
“Who cares about my head? I got your panda, didn’t I?” Capper said.
“Honestly, there must have been a better way than risking a concussion,” Luna replied.
“Forget about it. I can spare a few IQ points to bust a hustler. No way was he going to get away with angling the hoop downward.”
“But, for a stuffed panda?”
“He was lucky I just took that. Between busting him in front of royalty and the personal injury, I could have cleaned out his whole booth!” Capper laughed. His head throbbed again, making him groan.
“Capper…” Luna said, lifting the pack. She turned Capper’s head and lit up the tip of her horn. “Capper, look at me.”
Both were silent as she shone the light into each one of his eyes. To Luna’s greatest relief, both his eyes contracted equally. And even then, she lingered as she looked at his eyes.
“If you found what you’re looking for, can you turn out that light? I’m starting to see spots here,” Capper said.
“Oh. Sorry,” Luna said, dousing the light from her horn and reapplying the ice pack. “So, the good news is that you’re truly not concussed.”
“I’ve had worse,” Capper shrugged.
“Was it really worth it?”
“It’s not the craziest thing I’ve done for you.”
“Shamefully, that’s true,” Luna said.
Capper leaned his head back and sighed as he sank into the side of the panda. His smile spread to Luna’s face, as she settled down next to him and allowed her weight to sink against the plush animal. Their eyes both turned upward, gazing at the many stars that twinkled in the sky. Where they were, far on the edge of the boardwalk, nopony was there to interrupt them.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Luna began, “When I went to meet you in the garden tonight, what was it you were saying?”
“What do you mean?” Capper asked.
“You said something about the stars and a light to paradise. What did you mean by that?”
Capper turned his whole head, his nose only inches from Luna’s.
“It’s nothing, really. Just a song I heard when I was a kitten. I don’t know who sang it, or even what the song was called. But, I heard it so many times. I don’t know how it all goes, but that opening verse always stuck with me. I tried and tried to find out what it was, or where I could hear it, but it turns out that it’s a ridiculously rare song. Not even a full version of it has been discovered. Still, as long as I live, that song won’t be forgotten.”
Capper kept the gaze of Luna, who smiled sweetly back at him. A low sigh issued from her mouth as she nudged toward him. Capper could feel his heart jump when the top of Luna’s head brushed beneath his chin. And there she rested.
“Will you sing that song for me?” Luna asked.
“I…don’t remember how it all goes,” Capper said.
“Please sing it anyway.”
It was a request he couldn’t refuse. Capper rested one paw around Luna’s shoulders, pulled her closer and began to sing.
Luna’s ear twitched as the low, sweet sound of a quiet hum or chant rang to her. After, it was followed with pretty words of the stars, love enough, and that sweet, fabled paradise. Only a few lyrics after that, Capper’s voice simply hummed in her ears, keeping her entranced on the tune. Whatever would have been sung next, she knew it could only be wonderful.
In time, the song ended and Capper’s voice fell silent. Luna laid with her eyes closed, letting the echoes of the melody play again in her head. She let the last of her breath release, and rubbed her mane beneath Capper’s chin as she lifted her head.
“Tonight has been wonderful, Capper. But, I’m afraid I must get going,” she said.
“Already? But, the night isn’t over yet,” Capper said.
“That’s the thing. Ponies will be expecting to wake up any time now. And the moon must be lowered for the sun to come up.”
“Right. Duty calls, and everything,” Capper chuckled.
“Oh, Capper, don’t take it too hard. I’m sure Trixie will be pleased to know that her experiment went quite well.” Luna hovered her lips directly to Capper’s ear, “And I’ll definitely want to hear that song of yours again.”
Capper let her breath waft warmly in his ear, before he answered. “I guess I’ll see you around.”
“Sooner than you think,” Luna said.
Capper stood first and helped Luna to her hooves. The two of them walked all the way to the end of the boardwalk, where Capper allowed Luna to fly the rest of the way home with her panda. Once she had gone, the cat watched her go until she was just another shadow in the sky. With that, he walked his own way home.
By the time Luna landed on her balcony, she practically threw the doors open and rolled onto her bed without taking her dress off. She laid her head against the panda, smiling to herself. When she stretched a hoof out, she found that her headphones and sketchbook were still exactly where she had left them. For the last time that night, she put her headphones on and played that song she had so loved. Only this time, it was Capper’s song that she heard. As the music played, a new picture for her sketchbook formed in her mind.





“So, everything turned out well?” Trixie asked.
Capper wasn’t surprised when he found Trixie squatting on his couch when he got home. And he was equally unsurprised when he found that she had eaten all of his sunflower seeds. Taking his seat next to her, he emptied a fresh bag of the seeds into the dish on the table.
“I told you. She said that I can tell you that you’d be pleased with your experiment,” Capper said.
“And…?” Trixie asked.
“And that’s all the details you’re going to get.”
“Oh, pshaw. You make it sound so perverse.”
“Tell you what: on our next date, I’ll let you have a little more dirt,” Capper said, cracking a seed for himself.
“The…next…?” Trixie screeched loudly and bounced on the couch. “You have made The Great and Powerful Trixie so proud! I told you you could do it!”
“Okay! So you were right! It’s no call to make me deaf!” Capper said, plugging his ear nearest to Trixie.
Trixie took a hoofful of sunflower seeds and stuffed them into her mouth, staring intently at Capper.
“What?” Capper asked.
“Did you kiss her?” Trixie asked.
“No.”
Trixie swallowed the seeds, shell and all.
“Why not!?”
“I don’t know,” Capper lied. “I guess I’m not the type of tomcat to kiss on the first date.”
“Talk about your missed chances,” Trixie said, reaching for more seeds.
Capper grasped her horn and moved the seeds away from her, before taking some for himself.
“You heard what I said. A second date’s practically guaranteed. I’ll have my chance one of these days,” he said.
“So if a second date is guaranteed, what do you plan on doing?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Haven’t thought of it,” Capper shrugged. 
“I’m sure you will think of something.” Trixie used her magic to pick up a hoofful of sunflowers seeds.
And for the first time, he believed it. Once again, he thought back to the night of the gala. The one chance that he took to talk with the princess. To dance with her to that beautiful, wonderful song. He had no idea where his path would take him next. But for everything he had done, he was sure he wouldn’t have to walk it alone.
“Excuse me,” Trixie said, taking Capper from his thoughts, “What is that song you have playing? Haven’t I heard it before?”
Capper glimpsed down to his cassette player, which was still going since he turned it on before.
“They played it at the gala,” Capper chuckled.
“What’s it called?”
“Someone you like…”
And maybe, just maybe, he thought that he could be someone that Luna would like.