Sneaking into the castle certainly wasn't an easy feat but luckily he managed. After all he was one the greatest thieves of all time; so being sneaky was a must. Chummer headed toward where the dungeons were and spotted two guards on duty, he hid himself from their sight as they talked.
Soarin said, "So I hear you and Twilight finally got together."
Flash flushed, "News travels fast." then asked, "So how's everything going with your wife's pregnancy?"
"It's going as well as it can be. Morning sickness is always a downer and the mood swings are no better. But as long as a healthy foal is born, I won't complain."
"Good to see you're seeing the long-term goal here."
"Oh yeah, I can't wait until my kid is born, I got so much planned for him or her."
"Thought of any names yet?"
"We got a few in mind but we're still thinking it over."
As the conversation continued, Chummer decided enough was enough and grabbed for the nearest candleholder and slowly crept behind the two guards and quickly knocked them out that no doubt that by the time they wake up they'll have some nasty headaches. He left them laying on the floor and moved toward the cells.
Capper sat in a cell all alone feeling depressed. He could not get the image of Rarity's distraught look out of his mind. He looked back on their first meeting and remembered the promise he made to himself that he wouldn't get too close but fate just had to keep pushing them together and slowly but surely he fell for the pretty and generous unicorn. He covered his eyes, feeling absolute regret of hiding the truth from her and from not stopping himself of being around her so many times.
Then suddenly his ear perked up from the sound of someone approaching. He uncovered his eyes to see who his visitor was and to his upmost surprise it was…
"Chummer? Wha- what are you doing here?"
The blue eyed gray and black-striped tall cat came fore to face his old friend with the bars separating them.
While that been happening, Rarity was about to enter the dungeons but was shocked to find Soarin and Flash unconscious to the ground!
She cried out, "Oh no!" and tried to shake them awake, "Flash! Soarin! Get up!" but they didn't respond. She then could hear voices coming from the cells and quickly summoned a silver platter nearby and carefully went toward the voices.
She recognized Capper's voice but she couldn't place who the other voice belonged to until she saw another cat facing Capper's cell. She kept herself hidden from view as she listened to the exchange.
Chummer spoke, "I heard about how you got caught."
Capper asked with hopeful eyes, "And you've come to get me out?"
Chummer said nonchalantly, "Not quite…"
Capper furrowed his brows in confusion.
Chummer explained, "Don't get me wrong, I was very upset to learn that you were exposed and to make matters worse, Verko and his goons found me and demanded for the payment, I had to tell them what happen."
"Let me guess, he told you to let me rot in jail to make up for the debt, right?" Capper said unimpressed.
"Close. But no."
Now Capper was confused then ever and Rarity was confused too even though she didn't understand completely of what was going on she figured that Capper had a debt to repay to someone and this cat was following his orders but didn't know what he was going to do at this point.
Chummer lifted his right paw to show off his claws as he said, "Verko is willing to forget the debt, by letting me join in his gang but first I need to prove my worth…" he paused making an uncaring expression on his face and said in a low tone, by killing you…"
An ominous pause came over the area with Rarity and Capper stun speechless with horror in their eyes.
Capper sputtered, "Y-you can't be serious!"
Chummer merely replied, "But I am. You see Capper, I knew it would only be a matter of time before you would leave me alone. Our last conversation together was proof of that since you don't want to steal anymore and the fact that your head was turned by a pretty pony, no doubt you would try to court her when you had the chance."
Capper didn't say anything as a blush crept onto his face.
Rarity herself felt a heat rising in her cheeks from Capper's lack of denial.
Chummer scoffed, "I thought so."
Capper quickly spoke, "It doesn't matter anyway, she's with somepony else and after everything's that happen I doubt she'll ever want to see my face again…" he somberly leaned against the bars.
Rarity was taken aback by his words and felt guilt.
Chummer raised his claws more while saying, "What a shame." and moved his claws dangerously close to Capper, "Here, as a last act of our friendship, let me help you never feel pain again by putting you out of your misery…forever."
Capper moved back, "Come on, Chummer, you don't need to listen to Verko let's just get out of here together and run for it. I'll forget this ever happen and we can be just like we were before!"
Chummer countered, "And have Verko hunt us down for the rest of our lives?! No! I'm ending it now!" he used his other claws to open the lock to the cell.
Capper was panicking now and cried out, "But how do you know Verko will accept your word that you killed me?!"
"He won't that's why I need to bring back your body as proof."
Capper's heart was pounding furiously at this point and quickly tried another excuse, "But you using your claws won't be enough to kill me!"
"That's why I dipped them in poison to make sure, now is there any last words you want to say?" he opened the cell door and moved slowly forward.
Capper's eyes were filled with fear and terror as his once friend's shadow overcastted him and raised his claws up as they were ready to strike.
"No? Then I bide you farewell, old friend…"
Capper shut his eyes waiting for the final blow but then suddenly he hears a CLANG and opens his eyes to see Chummer looking dazed with him falling over and crashing onto the cell floor.
A familiar feminine voice shouted, "How dare you try to murder the love of my life!"
Capper gawked when seeing the beautiful unicorn with three diamonds for a cutie mark, magically holding a silver platter over Chummer's body.
"Rarity? Wha-" his eyes widen upon realizing what she just said and questioned, "Wait, did you say… 'the love of your life'?" he smirked.
Rarity blushed furiously and stammered, "I-I don't know yet! I'm still trying to figure that out!" she calmed down and got serious, "I came down here to find out the truth. Because yes, it is true I do have feelings for you, so much so I was going to tell Fancy and break off our relationship but when all this happen… well it left me to make a drastic measure by accepting Fancy's proposal but as it is, even now I still can't get my mind off of you. So I wanted to see how much of your life is real and how much of it was a lie.
"Given what I just witnessed I think I know now why you pretended to be a count and while I don't completely approve of what you did, I cannot be upset with you especially after this horrifying ordeal… I cannot believe he was about to murder you!"
Capper said, "It certainly took me by surprise. I mean Chummer and I have been through a lot since we were orphans on the streets." his eyes were sincere and sad, "I wasn't lying when I told you about my family and the fire… nor did I lie when you were sewing up my arm. In fact, for every conversation we had I kept to the truth without revealing all the details. The only thing I did lie about was being a count but even then I wasn't trying to hurt anyone. I just needed a way to fill my and Chummer's debt to Verko and when his majesty, the king gave me an opportunity, I took it."
"You certainly did…" she said not sure she should be impressed or not.
Capper stared at her with his big cat eyes making her melt under his gaze with him saying, "If there's one good thing that came from all of this was that I had the chance to meet the most beautiful pony in all the world and get to know her for who she really was, a generous, sweet, hardworking, smart, and elegant mare that's not afraid to speak her mind. And here I thought I was able to win people over within a matter of minutes, but you… you won me over the second we met." his eyes shone brightly to those last words.
Rarity's heart leapt immensely in her chest and uttered, "You… you truly mean all that?"
Capper nodded, "Every word. It's the absolute truth."
The two stood there for the longest time, not saying a word. Capper wondered what Rarity was going to do next until he got his answer all of sudden when she got closer and slowly rose up on her hind legs and wrapped her forehooves around his neck and slowly but surely she leaned in closer to his face. He understood and gave in. They shared a long and passionate kiss that seemed to stop all time, forgetting all about their woes and situation in that one moment.
When the kiss ended they separated their lips while still being lost in each other's eyes.
She whispered, "So… it's true… you are my soulmate…"
Capper slightly smiled, "And you're mine…" he caressed her cheek.
Suddenly Rarity burst into tears and clutched to his chest.
He was confused by this sudden emotion and inquired, "What's wrong?"
"Oh Capper! I made a horrible mistake!"
She went off on a tangent of telling him all about her original deal to the king and signed the king's contract to accepting Fancy's proposal on a whim.
"Applejack was right, I was acting foolish! I can't marry him now yet I have no choice if it means ending my contract to the king! What am I to do?!" she sobbed and buried her face into his chest.
Capper's ears drooped while he held her close in his arms letting her release her sorrow. When he was sure she calmed down he had her face him and told her outright, "Then you should marry him."
Rarity gawked at the suggestion with him softly explaining, "If you can be free from the king's servitude by marrying someone that could provide for you better than I could then you do should it."
Tears welled in her eyes again, "Capper… you can't think…"
"I knew from the start that it would be impossible for us to be together what with my checker past and meager funds, there's no way I could give you the life you deserve." he moved away from her.
Rarity was stunned and uttered in dismay, "Capper…"
He held his paw up, "Please Rarity, do it for me. Marry the marquis and get your freedom back, do that and I'll be the happiest cat in the world." More or less… he thought to himself.
Rarity's tears came fast and fell from her face as she said in a broken tone, "I-If t-that is your wish...?"
He turned his back to her as he said, "It is…"
Rarity turned to go but was having a hard time doing so… Then remembering of the attempted murder that's occurred recently, she went to alert the castle leaving Capper all alone in his open cell.
He had a chance to escape but instead he stayed put as he felt overwhelmed by the exchange he give to Rarity and crouched down in misery knowing the mare he loved will forever be gone from his life soon and nothing will ever be able to change that.