While the king and Fluttershy were gone for the entire day, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, their husbands, Twilight and Rarity were setting up bassinets in Soarin and Spike's rooms as well as baby proofing them so they didn't have to worry about the babies getting hurt when they get here.
When they were done they met up in the kitchens.
Rainbow exclaimed, "Geez, I never thought we'd get done before the king came back!"
Pinkie mentioned, "Well you and Applejack had morning sickness on and off all day so it couldn't be helped."
Dash groaned, "Yeah, that really sucked. Ugh, why now of all times did he make me into a knight?! Sure I was excited at first but then it hit me… I'm pregnant! My condition will never let me be able to perform my duties right!" she started to cry having her husband to quickly comfort her.
Everyone looked on in sympathy.
Rarity commented, "It's just unfortunate timing, darling."
Suddenly Flash rushed into the room making everyone's head turn to him as he yelled, "Soarin! We need you!"
The pegasus asked in confusion, "Why? What's going on?"
"The king is back and has requested that Count Capper be arrested!"
Everybody gasped but none more so loudly than Rarity as she shouted, "What on Equestria for?!"
"He didn't say just that the count had to be brought before him. So we better get going, Soarin."
"I'm coming." he said before turning back to his wife, "You'll be okay?"
"Of course, just go."
He did so as Flash and he left the room in a hurry.
Applejack looked to Rarity to see the unicorn was in shock and asked, "Rare? You okay?"
The maid slowly said, "It… it has to be a misunderstanding… it has to be… Count Capper is nothing but a gentle creature he would never commit any wrongdoings."
"I hope you're right, sugar cube, for yer sake."
Twilight motioned, "Let's get down to the throne room to find out what this is all about."
Discord was back to his true form as he sat on his throne with Fluttershy standing by with a concern look on her face. Fancy Pants was next to the draconequus as they waited for the accused to be brought in. The Mane Five and Spike and Cheese came into the room. Rarity saw Fancy and made a small gasp. Fancy saw her and a small smile spread across his lips obviously happy to see her. A small blush crept on her face, she had forgotten how much she adored his smile. But the moment was short-lived when Capper in chain cuffs entered the room with a group of guards including Soarin and Flash behind him.
This entire situation was so surreal for Rarity, both of her love interests were in the same room but one was undergoing an interrogation for something that she didn't know but judging from the king's expression it was serious.
Capper indignantly protested, "Is this how you treat all your noble guests? You welcome them into your home and then decide to arrest them for no apparent reason?!"
Discord scoffed, "Oh please, you can cut the charade now," he accusingly pointed, "I know you're not a real count!"
Everyone but Fancy and Discord gasped loudly.
Rarity shook her head in despair, No-no-no, it can't be true!
Capper's body stiffened and dared not to say anything, waiting to see what else the king would say.
Discord motioned, "Fancy, would you please share with us what you learned from your trip to Abyssina?"
Fear flashed across Capper's face.
Fancy's face turn serious as he took the floor and stated for all to hear, "I visited with their majesties, the King and Queen of Abyssina and they were unaware of sending a dignitary to Equestria to the Royal Summit, in fact they never even heard of a Count Capper ever in their presence! So I set out to investigate to see who this charlatan was." Eying the tall cat distastefully, "Soon I found out that there was a Capper Dapperpaws, an orphan from the streets who soon turned into a life of crime. So the cat you see before you is nothing but a common thief and con-artist."
Rarity couldn't believe what she was hearing and looked at Capper and hoped that everything she just heard was false but the guilty look on his face said otherwise. Making her heart feel like it was breaking into two. Her lips trembled and was on the verge of tears.
Capper saw the look on her face and felt like crying himself. He never wanted to come to this, for her to find out the truth like this. With a sigh he hung his head and confessed, "Yes. I am."
Rarity couldn't take it anymore and quickly ran out of the room which didn't escape Fancy's notice much to his confusion. Why would his love be upset over a fake count that admitted being a criminal?
Capper was just as upset to see her go and figured he had nothing left to lose at this point and told the king directly, "So your majesty, I guess this means you win the bet."
It was Discord's turn to stiffen and Twilight herself bit her hoof nervously as they looked at Fluttershy who was confused as she questioned, "Bet? What bet?"
Discord rapidly ordered his guards, "Put him in the dungeon now!"
Capper quickly told her as he was being dragged away, "At the Summit, his highness made a bet with the other royals that he could win your heart and become his queen and they all would have to give a portion of their wealth to him if not then he would have been dethroned and lose his crown!" he managed to say before he was taken out.
The room went quiet and no one moved a muscle.
Finally one soft voice said, "Is it true…?"
Discord looked down to see the sad look on Fluttershy's face. He tried to look away but didn't have the heart to. He took a breath and admitted, "Yes."
She made a short gasp as tears welled in her eyes.
Twilight spoke out much to everyone's surprise, "You weren't supposed to find out. No one was supposed to know."
Spike slowly contemplated those words and said, "Wait… you kept this from us? From me…?" his eyes went big with sadness.
Applejack uttered, "Twilight… how could you...?"
Rainbow yelled, "We're your friends! Why would you hide this from us?!"
Pinkie motioned, "Yeah! I was all for helping you in bringing the king and Fluttershy together but now that I know there was a bet involved all this time it's very upsetting!" her mane slightly deflated.
Twilight's tears were escaping from her, "I… I'm sorry… I know I kept this from you, all of you… but the princesses told me it was for the best."
Spike scowled and turned his head away.
The lavender unicorn went up to him and begged, "Spike please… I never wanted to hurt you… I was just following orders…"
He released a small scoff, "That's all you care about now, Twilight. You don't want to follow your heart and decide for yourself what's best for you… I respect the princesses, you know I do, but now… this is… I don't know… I need some time to think this over…" he started to go.
Applejack made a look at Twilight before going after her husband to comfort him.
Fluttershy asked Discord, "Were you ever going to tell me?"
The draconequus bit his lip and turned his head away.
She sighed in disappointment, "I see…"
He started, "Fluttershy, please, you must understand, I made that bet out of arrogance, but in our time together I never once thought of it!"
"I want to believe you… but I'm not sure if I can… All those things we did… you could have just been using my emotions against me…"
His voice cracked, "You can't mean that!" his eyes filling with sadness.
Tears ran down her cheeks, "I wish I didn't! But I just don't know if I can trust you!" she let out a sob and couched down to the floor.
Rainbow went to her side and wrapped a wing around her before glaring up at the king.
Discord growled, "Oh, don't you dare give me that look!"
"And why shouldn't I?! You have trapped us all here not once giving us a chance at freedom! Have you ever considered how my husb-"
Fluttershy gasped, "Dashie no!"
Rainbow stopped herself and covered her mouth.
Discord furrowed his brows to see the expression on everyone's faces that was full of dread. He faced the two pegasus mares and said in a low tone, "What is it you're not telling me?"
"It's nothing!" Dash declared.
Discord frowned further as he looked directly at Fluttershy, "You say I've been keeping secrets from you and yet here you are hiding something as well." he crossed his arms, "Now what is it?"
She shook her head, "It's not my secret to tell."
RD pointed, "Yeah! So just leave her alone!"
He gestured, "Well I just find it unfair that my secret was told and you admonish me for not telling and yet here you are holding a secret behind my back and you can't tell me anything!" he floated up angrily.
Fluttershy's tears resumed while crying out, "I just can't tell you!" she ran out.
Cheese, Pinkie, and Rainbow exchanged sad looks and went after her.
Fancy and Twilight was alone with the king with the purple unicorn cautiously approaching the king that was still fuming.
"Um… sire…?"
He blew up in her face, "WHAT?! Are you going to lecture me now and tell me how I should've been more honest with the one mare I cared for the most?! Is that what you were going to say, Sparkle?!"
Twilight winced, "Uh, no…? I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am this happened…"
He huffed, "I don't want your pity. I want…" he faltered, "I want…" he floated down in sorrow all the while slowly breaking down, "I want… I want Flutter… Flutter…" he held his hands to his eyes to sob, "F-F-Fluttershy…" and continued to sob.
Fancy was stunned to see the draconequus act this way and looked to Twilight for answers.
He whispered, "What in the world happen while I was gone?"
Twilight took a deep breath and told him everything.
Rarity was crying in her pillow remembering all she and Capper had shared and done together.
How could I have been so foolish?! To fall for someone who was pretending to be someone else this entire time! His charms and mannerisms were nothing but a farce! With a gasp, she realized, Why I almost gave up the one stallion that loves me no matter what! I'm such a terrible marefriend!
She wailed into the pillow.
A knock came at her door with a baritone voice saying, "Rarity? Are you in there?"
Recognizing the voice, she stopped crying to quickly fix herself up and went to the door to let her special somepony in, "Fancy! Oh my darling!" she embraced him.
He returned the embrace, "I've missed you too…"
"When I saw you in the throne room I was so surprised to see you home!"
"Yes, I'm just sorry we had to reunite under such terrible and sad conditions."
"No, you did what you had to, to expose that… that…" she wanted to so desperately say something bad about Capper but her heart couldn't bring herself to it.
Fancy guessed, "That fraud?"
She nervously tittered, "Yes, fraud… that's the word."
Fancy was getting suspicious and inquired, "I do hope this isn't a sensitive topic to bring up, but… I couldn't help but notice that you were rather upset that the supposed count was vindicated for his actions… any reason for that?"
Rarity worried for a bit before expressing, "I… just… well that is to say… You see we became good friends and well… it was so upsetting to know that he kept the truth from me all this time…" it was the truth to an extend and she hoped that her beloved would accept it.
Fancy thought there was more to it than that but decided not to press, after all everyone had a very bad night tonight so no use in making it worse by bringing up the fake count being a possible love rival. He replied, "I see… I'm sorry that happen." He knew it was best to move on and remembering what he told the king before he left, he tenderly said.
"Rarity… Before I left for Abyssina I brought up an important matter to the king that would affect your future."
Her brows furrowed in bewilderment, "Oh?"
He smiled brightly and bended down on his hooves causing her to gasp. He said, "I told him that I would ask for your hoof in marriage."
She uttered in disbelief, "Fancy… really?" tears of joy nearly escaped her.
He kept smiling and held his hoof out, "Yes, so I must ask you… Will you be my wife, Rarity?"
She nearly squealed out, "Yes!" and the two exchanged a longing kiss.
Flash Sentry was patrolling the corridors when he heard weeping coming from a nearby room and decided to check it out and to his surprise he found… "Twilight?"
She sniffled as she faced him.
He inquired as he slowly got closer to her, "What's wrong?"
"Oh Flash!" in one swift move she wrapped her hooves around him, catching him off-guard. "I made such a huge mistake!" she sobbed on.
He rubbed her back to gently shush her, "Just take a few deep breaths and tell me what happened…"
She did as he suggested and told him all about the bet and the decision to keep it from everyone close to her.
"…Spike was so upset that I just didn't know what I could do to make it better… He said that I can't follow my heart and decide what's best for me… I can't help but feel he's right… In fact, you brought that up before…"
Flash winced, "I… I never meant to sound like what you were doing was a bad thing…"
She shook her head, "You asked me if Princess Celestia would give me a choice at my own destiny and while I still don't know the answer to that. I do know that there things in my life that are more important than just studying and duty. I'm scared that tonight I just lost the only friends I ever had…" the tears ran down her cheeks.
Flash held her closer, "I'm sure they just need some time to get past this. They'll forgive you, I know they will."
She looked at him, "Really? You really think they will?"
He gave a small smile, "I do."
That made her feel better with her saying, "Flash… I think… I want us to get together now…"
His eyes widen and asked, "Are you sure?"
She smiled and embraced him once more, "I'm sure…"
He welcomed the embrace wholeheartedly.