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// Random Word Prompts: 1-5 
// Story: Scratches and Stitches: A Capperity Collection 
// by Reppie-Angel 
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Random Word Prompts 1-5


1. Choice

She just couldn’t believe Capper Dapperpaws. She truly couldn’t. For Celestia’s sake, how in the world did one turn down a once in a lifetime offer to become the Royal Adviser to the King and Queen in Abyssinia? The monumental raise in social status aside, the money that came from such a high end position would have him set up for almost half of his nine lives. Or at least the ones he said he had left anyway. Quite the bargain for someone who was born and raised in a trashcan – his words, not hers, which she hardly dared to agree with.

And yet, he still turned them down flat. And for what? To continue his current career as the Head-Cat of Kludgetown? It was utterly inconceivable.

She still thought just as much when he had dropped by for a visit one day, smiling that same charming cattish grin to which she let out a huff. “Capper Dapperpaws, I just don’t understand you.” 

His grin never faded from his muzzle. “Why, whatever do you mean, Miss Rarity?”

“Oh, you know all too well, what I mean, you rascal!” Her mild insult caused his whiskers to twitch in amusement. “I know how important money is to you now that you’re no longer on Verko’s leash;being a royal adviser is very noteworthy position, financially and socially. You would have had the ear of the King and Queen of a rebuilding country, ample opportunities to really make a difference for the better. Now I ask you,” She fixed him with the shrewdest look she could muster. “What could possibly be more important?!”

He looked completely undeterred by her chastisement. Instead, like always, the Cunning Cat threw her off her near-embitterment completely by, with a soft, tender look in his glittering emerald eyes that sent very pleasant little shivers tingling down her flank, he smoothly leaned down and nuzzled her snout with his cold little nose.

The loving gesture sent scarlet red blooming on both sides of her muzzle, growing darker as he purred lowly, “I think the answer’s pretty obvious, girl. If I moved all the way back to Abyssinia, I couldn’t see you.”

2. Delusion

Rarity only sighed and shook her head at the sight currently mewling and purring up a storm on her chaise, as it was the stillest he had ever been ever since he stumbled into her shop just about an hour ago. “Capper, dear, how in Equestria did you find and consume this much catnip so fast?”

Capper blinked slowly at her, the movement delayed for each eye. His long lithe body now lay upside down with his back paws and his tail twitching in the air while his whiskers flickered like mad. If only adding to the high he was currently on, he giggled like a kitten. “I’ll be happ~y to tell ya just as soon as I get some more cand~y sticks and whack these flying yarn balls outta the air~!” His attempt to do so with a poorly aimed swipe only resulted in him crumpling onto the floor in a heap completely contradictory to his race.

Rarity did not a thing to help him. That is, except just tut at him with another shake of her mane. There were always downsides to having cats around, after all.

3. Garden

Fluttershy wasn’t ready for the yowl of surprise that tore through the silence of the tranquil afternoon she had been having in the back of her cottage.

The utter peace and serenity that had overtaken her diligent work in her little vegetable garden had lulled her into a relaxed state of mind. The work hadn’t been too intense, seeing as her little patch of green was just that when compared to Sweet Apple Acres, just a few leaves to pull here and some dead vines to trim off there. All the work was practically second-nature at this point, the load almost light as her wing-tips, even more so when some of her animal friends kindly offered a paw or two to help. Even if they do sneak a bite or two every now or again. She giggled to herself.

And she was just as grateful for Capper and Rarity, who had decided to drop in for a visit and also offered an extra hoof and paw to tend to her work. It was always a pleasure to see either one or the other, but seeing the both of them together was just as sweet, if how they always looked at each other was any indication. With how many times Fluttershy had seen her own parents gaze at each other so romantically, it was clear to  the sweet-tempered Pegasus what they thought of each other.

Which was why that yowl had startled Fluttershy so badly, making her drop her produce in shock and her heartbeat rise like a firework in the sky. She turned her head and only caught a glimpse of Rarity wielding a single green vegetable and Capper screeching all the way out of the garden and onto the road as he ran from her. Her exasperated remarked managed to be caught by Fluttershy’s ears before they got too far. “Capper, honestly! It’s not going to hurt you!”

Being the animal expert that she was, it didn’t take long to put too and two together, leaving her to only sigh in pity. They sped from her house so fast, Fluttershy never got a chance to tell Rarity that all cats were startled by cucumbers. Even bipedal ones, it seemed. Hm.

4. Flood

It was well-known fact that all cats hated water. Whether it could be explained by the cat’s own self-interest in just grooming themselves with their tongues or some long-winded and forgotten cat-tale of the origin that had been told and forgotten was unclear. Or perhaps it was just, like one of nature’s many mysteries, it was simply what it was.

Capper had a, erhm . . . serrated relationship with water, to put it mildly. He didn’t hate the water, for when a cat was forced to live in a desert-town for years on end where the closest thing to getting cool was an over-priced lukewarm mug of near-expired fruit juice, precious h2o was a far more pleasing substitute. But at the same time he wasn’t ready and eager to jump in the nearest filly-pool with floaties at the ready.

Not to say he didn’t try and get along with it. After all, with a classy lady for Rarity as a friend who made bathing a daily and careful practice, one did need to develop a tolerance for cleaning up regularly. And try to lower the chances of coughing up hairballs at random points of the day. So he tried. And failed miserably.

Meaning, Capper having forgotten the most important rule of clearing your fur from the shower drain after you were through with your scrubbing. Which allowed a sizable chunk of fur and hair to build up and jam itself inside the pipe, leaving the filthy water no choice but to build up into a distasteful clog. Something that did not even reach Capper’s notice once until one day when leaving the tub to fill for a few minutes while grabbing a book from Rarity’s small library to kick back with, he had come back and found the porcelain tub steaming and overflowing with no signs of stopping.

Any efforts to stop it were immediately halted when the water touched his heels, provoking him to leap onto the toilet seat, his body arching like any cat’s would.

As if to add insult to injury, Rarity had taken that moment to step in, most likely to brush up for an important interview she had later on that day, only to exclaim furiously at the massive plumbing disaster her cat had caused. “Wha- This- This is NOT my fault! This thing was NOT built to code!”

5. Appearance

Capper felt like fidgeting under the cold, scrutinizing stares of the other ponies, paws itching to pull at his coat lapels from force of habit. Geez, forget about the tux, with this crowd, you’d be better off with battle armor.

For probably the tenth time that night, starting from when he set one paw in the Grand Galloping Gala, he deeply wondered why it was that Rarity, one of Equestria’s most famous and influential ponies, had invited him, a former dirt-poor trickster of a tabby cat from a ramshackle desert town, to appear with her to one of the most premiere events in Canterlot. After all, what would such ponies think? Like all the fancy unicorns, haughty pegasi and rich earth ponies whispering gossip as innocent as the judging glares shot at him from behind elegant, fluttering fans and polite but artificial facades.

Didn’t that sort of thing worry her? He may not have been raised among the rich and high class, but he knew all too well that a few well-placed words could easily fell any reputation like a tower of straw. And Celestia knew how hard the Lovely Unicorn had worked to build such reputable ties with them to make her dreams a reality. So, was including him really worth losing all that?

Her head nuzzling into his chest fur with a contented sigh brought him back to reality and his said company, dressed to impress like always. “I’m so glad you’re here with me tonight, darling. I honestly could not imagine myself coming with anyone else.” She murmured sweetly.

The trickle of warmth from such a declaration steadied his nerves for only a moment. “. . . Even if it’s just a broke, down-on-his-luck cat from the wrong side of the track like me?” He pointed out, hope peeking into his voice against his violation. 

He expected her to laugh at him, brush off his concerns and simply continue on with her night as if nothing were the matter. But as always, she surprised him. She looked up at him, eyes warm and bright and genuine, before her soft lips pressed a chaste kiss to his jawline, right in plain view of the scandalized elites. “Especially so.”