“No!”
A page was torn from a notebook, wadded up, and tossed into a pile.
Capper ran his fingers through his fur atop his head and nibbled the end of his pencil. For almost an hour now, he had been sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, stooped over his coffee table with the pages laid out before him. His sunflower seeds had been spent, lying in a pile of empty shells like some kind of tiny monument, and his notebook was growing thinner with every passing minute.
Days had passed since the last time that he had gone to his favorite spot in the woods, beneath his favorite tree. There, he could write anything that he wanted. Now that he was actually trying to find the right words, he found that inspiration was a lot more difficult to come by. Especially when he had to say something so meaningful.
Talking with others was always Capper’s strongest point. As a kitten, he could convince any vendor to give him an extra piece of fish with just a few pretty words. And he had only gotten better at it since. As he thought more and more about the words he wanted to say, each one of them sounded more hollow than the last.
“Damn…” Capper sighed as he leaned his back against the front of his couch.
He reached a paw out and blindly grabbed for his ukulele. Once he had it, he began strumming the strings slowly.
“Let’s see,” he whispered to himself.
He played the music with only himself as the audience. His claws plucked the strings gently, allowing them to sing their many tunes to him. Capper’s head began tilting back and forth in tune with the music, and the words came again.
You make me feel safe like we could fly away to our escape.
Go to a magical place where no one can tell us what to do or say…
The strings squeaked loudly as he scratched his claws across them.
“Aw! It sounds so god damn sappy!” he groaned, putting the instrument on the couch behind him.
He stretched his legs out, and his toe touched one of the wadded up pieces of paper that he had torn from his notebook. Each paper was like a tiny grave marker for an idea that he had scrapped. And each grave was more deserving than the last. If anything was going to stick, it had to be something that meant something real. Not just a bunch of words that sounded nice.
The tape with the song that Luna had shared with him laid on the table. Capper reached out and grabbed it, studying the case. How had two ponies written something so meaningful? So purely genuine? The most accurate depiction of young love that he had ever heard, where both of them knew that things may not work out but they hoped for the best?
Capper sung the lyrics to himself, having memorized them by heart at that point. There was a verse from the male vocalist that always struck him. How he couldn’t be what his lover expected him to be, but he could only try his best. Slowly, his eyes widened as the words came to him. The ukulele was back in his paws, and he began to strum the strings.
Cuz I want to be your hero even though I've not been the one to fight.
I don't think I'm strong enough but damn I would like to at least try.
“Ah! That’s damn good! Damn good!” Capper said as he hastily wrote down the words he had sung.
No sooner did he stop writing was there a knock on his door.
The notebook and the ukulele were swept under his couch.
“Nopony’s home!” he yelled.
It was only then that he realized that Trixie would have long since gone to bed. And that there was only one other pony who would call on him so late at night.
“Isn’t there? What a shame. I suppose I’ll take my special surprise elsewhere,” a familiar voice sweetly called.
“Oh, crap!” Capper hissed.
He quickly gathered up the wadded pieces of paper and clutched them in his arms. Terror struck him as his door started cracking open. As quick as he could, Capper hopped over his couch and jammed the door with his foot.
“Capper? What are you doing?” Luna asked.
“Luna. Could you wai–Just wait right there a second!” Capper hastily said.
He started running off with his papers, backed up to grab his jacket with his teeth, then darted around a corner just as Luna let herself inside. She looked curiously in the direction that Capper had gone, then sat down on his couch.
Capper quickly dumped his scrapped papers into the garbage and hurried to his bathroom, locking the door behind himself.
“Why now? It had to be tonight!?” Capper hissed, hastily putting on his jacket to hide his bruises.
Luna sat down on Capper’s couch, and from her mane took the cassette tape that she had bought earlier that day. She smiled as she glanced down the hall where Capper had run off, knowing he would love it.
Capper searched madly through his cabinets for something that would hide his black eye. Nothing was found. The closest thing that he had was some brown shoe polish that had been under his sink when he moved in.
“Yes!” he quietly cheered.
Luna touched up her lipstick and eyeliner. Her eyes were dazzling. Her lips were tempting. And her mane? Styled and colored to silvery perfection. She closed her compact and teleported it away, before she glanced over her shoulder to the hall, smiling eagerly.
“Come on! Come on!” Capper said to himself as he applied the shoe polish. But there was nothing that could be done about that pungent smell.
Unless…
Capper shuffled through the many bottles that he had taken from his cabinets until he found the one he wanted. His trusty tobacco/vanilla cologne. With a shaking paw, he started dabbing it over the polish, hoping it wouldn’t run too much.
The tape was put into the player. Everything was almost ready for Capper to arrive. Except for one last thing. Luna examined the garment she had brought with her. The racy little thing made from ebony silk and white gossamer. Did she dare?
Capper’s breath was rapid and shallow as he finished dabbing his cologne. With any luck, Luna wouldn’t notice the smell of the shoe polish.
He slapped a paw to his forehead and ran his fingers through his hair. Slowly his breaths steadied. When he was able to face his reflection once again, he wondered how he was going to get through the night unscathed.
His ear twitched when he heard a low synthetic tune playing from his living room. After that, a slow, steady chant hummed.
The bottle of cologne nearly slid out of Capper’s paw when he heard the opening crescendo that he hadn’t heard since he was a kitten. As if in a trance, he drifted out of his bathroom toward his living room. When he arrived, he saw the shock of his life.
There was Luna draped across his couch, wearing a nightgown that left nothing at all to Capper’s imagination.
The lyrics to the song began, conveying the beauty of love enough to light the skies and steal the stars as Luna batted her eyelashes at Capper.
“Ah…Luna? What are you doing…?” Capper asked.
“Just repaying a favor. You were kind enough to be my angel of the morning, so I’ll be yours for the evening,” Luna suggestively said.
Capper slowly turned his back and exhaled quietly.
“Don’t leave me here all alone. Join me,” Luna sweetly called.
“Oh, boy…” Capper whispered too quietly for even himself to hear.
Putting on his most pleasant face, Capper turned back to face Luna, who was extending her hoof out to him. Capper reached out and took her hoof, and allowed himself to be sat down on the couch. Luna took her hoof from Capper’s paw and rested it on his lap.
“Uh…” Capper said, struggling to keep his voice steady, “It…I guess things went okay with your sister this morning?”
“Let’s not talk about my sister,” Luna said.
Capper was taken completely by surprise when Luna pulled herself toward him. The weight of her body gradually settled upon him as he laid himself down on the couch. He wanted to protest. He wished nothing more than to talk some sense into Luna. But between the softness of the cushions and the warmth of Luna’s body, something within him was stopping him from doing anything. As he laid his paws on Luna’s back, a smile began to grow on his face.
Luna rested her head beneath Capper’s chin and sighed contentedly.
“It truly is a lovely song,” she whispered.
“How did you find it?” Capper asked, rubbing his paws on Luna’s sides.
“Somepony turned in the single to a record shop in Canterlot for three bits in store credit. It’s a shame how little ponies appreciate it.”
Memories of his early life returned to Capper as he listened to the song. A flood of hopes and dreams and cares that he had long since forgotten, all returned to him as the music filled his ears. He felt Luna’s breath on his shoulder, and her hips rubbed against his as she shifted her position. Capper bit his lip slightly when she put pressure on one of his bruises.
“You’ve gone a little heavy on the cologne tonight,” Luna said.
“Er…I just know how much you like it,” Capper said.
“Yes. It’s delicious.”
Something about the way Luna said that made Capper’s spine shiver in a way he almost wanted it to again.
“You seem tense,” Luna said as she rubbed Capper’s shoulders. “Have you had a rough day?”
“No more than usual,” Capper said, trying to sound casual.
“Oh, don’t sound so coy, darling. As it so happens, I know one of the best ways to help you unwind.”
Darling? He was ‘darling’ now? Had he not been so at peace, Capper would have squeezed his claws into Luna’s hip in utter shock.
“Dare I ask what it is?” Capper wondered.
His answer was a low exhale from Luna, who raised her head to look Capper in the eye.
“Why don’t I show you?” Luna said.
Her snout drifted closer to Capper’s.
“Lu–Princess? What are you doing?” Capper asked.
“No, no. You call me Luna,” Luna said, as she rubbed her nose against Capper’s “Now sit still. I’ll take care of everything.”
Luna’s nose drifted from Capper’s, and down to his cheek. Capper’s eyes rolled almost completely backwards as her snout nuzzled up and down against his face. His paws rubbed ritualistically up and down across Luna’s back, the feel of the fabric tickling his fingertips until he found the hem of her skirt and glided his fingers across her bare hip.
The sound of Luna’s giggling mingled in Capper’s ears as beautifully as the music that played. Heaven truly was a sweet complication, and there was no better time or place to find that sweet, fabled paradise in his heart. How many times hadn’t he learned such a thing, just to leave himself shattered and lost in the aftermath?
Luna kept finding new places to nuzzle Capper. Behind his ears. Across his hairline. Beneath his chin. Along his jawline. Around his eyes.
It was there that Luna felt something that she knew she shouldn’t have. Like some malodorous fluid had dried onto his face.
“Capper? What’s this?” Luna asked.
“What?” Capper asked, his senses returning like an unpleasant crash.
“Has something happened?”
“I’m alright. I promise,” Capper hastily said.
“I didn’t ask if you were alright. I asked what had happened,” Luna said.
Capper was silent. Luna recognized that silence. The very same as when she had come by his place on that foggy morning so long ago. And she wasn’t going to allow it to ruin anything for her.
“Let me see it,” Luna said.
“There’s nothing to s–”
“Capper,” Luna interjected, “I don’t want to have this same argument with you again. Let me see what’s hurting you.”
Capper saw the way Luna was looking at him. Concern and budding fear were painted all over her face, and it hurt him more than the bruises Luna was laying on.
Without a word, Capper rested his head on the arm of the couch, and Luna flared up her magic just as the song on the player ended.
With a gentle light, the polish that Capper had applied to his face was washed away. Capper had closed his eyes to allow Luna to work, until he heard her speak.
“Oh, my stars…” she whispered.
Capper’s eyes cracked open to see that same look of fear and concern expounded.
“Darling, what happened to you?” Luna asked.
“It was…just a stupid accident,” Capper weakly said.
“Capper, please,” Luna said, her voice choking slightly, “Why do you do this? Why do you not allow anypony who cares about you to help?”
As Capper listened to her, he could feel something within him give way. As if some key that had been left in a door to rust over had suddenly been turned, those terrible days of his life came back to light from the dark recesses of his memory. Things that even he had long since forgotten.
“I’m sorry…”
Luna stared back, any emotion wiped from her face. Capper pulled her close to his heart and stroked her mane.
“I got myself into trouble a long time ago. And I don’t know if I can ever get out,” Capper whispered.
“Tell me what happened,” Luna answered.
Capper held Luna more tightly as his heart began to shudder.
“I was so young when I lost my parents. I don’t even remember their faces. The closest thing I ever had to a family was another kitten at the orphanage. Chummer…”
Luna put her hoof on Capper’s shoulder when she heard his voice choke.
“I was always looking up to him…He taught me so many things. No matter what I did…No matter what I thought…He never even called me by my name…I guess in the end he didn’t feel anything about me…”
Luna felt a single tear trickle into her mane. She brushed it away and squeezed Capper’s shoulders.
“You don’t have to say anymore,” she said.
“No. I…I want to,” Capper said, his chest heaving like a dying stallion’s.
The time passed, and Capper told Luna everything. How Chummer had set him up with Verko’s gang, and how the creature’s he had trusted the most took him for a fall.
In time, he confessed about the fight with the unknown pegasus from the Gala. How she had attacked Trixie and conveyed a message from Needy to him.
Luna held onto Capper, feeling as if she never wanted to let go. After her talk with Rosy that morning, she realized how serious things were becoming. Part of her wished to tell Capper about her investigation. But the part of her that didn’t wish to cause any more anguish to Capper won out.
“It must have been difficult. Growing up as you did,” Luna said.
“Heh. I get by,” Capper replied, rubbing Luna’s sides.
“No. I mean living in a world where you couldn’t trust anypony. And then carry that with you for the rest of your days. It must have been terrible to be alone, but never realize you were lonely.”
Capper swallowed his tears at that moment. That one sentence summed up his entire time at Klugetown, and it made him realize how much of his life he had all but wasted.
“I’m not going to let you face it alone,” Luna said.
“Luna, no. I understand how you feel, but this is my issue,” Capper said.
Luna hushed him with her hoof placed over his lips.
“I won’t allow you to be hurt anymore. I promise you.”
Capper doubted it, but he stopped himself from saying so. Luna seemed so resolute. Like she would keep her word and keep him for the rest of her days.
He answered Luna by embracing her as he rubbed his paws along her sides, across her chest and around her shoulders, before allowing them both to sink into the couch. From there, they both had a view of the outside from the window.
“You outdid yourself tonight,” Capper said, looking at the night sky beyond.
“I was feeling a bit inspired,” Luna said, nuzzling Capper’s ear.
“I have an idea,” Capper said, “Why don’t you put on something a little more decent, and we’ll go out and enjoy the night for a while?”
“You mean go to the boardwalk again?” Luna asked, sounding somewhat enthused.
“I have something a little different in mind.”
“Like what?”
“Only one way to find out,” Capper said with a sly smile.