A chill autumn breeze blew down the wooded trail, blowing the mane of Princess Luna this way and that. To her side, her feline guide pulled his red coat a little closer to himself.
Though she had lived in Canterlot her whole life, Luna had never seen that particular part of the forest that Capper was guiding her down. Most of their trip passed in silence, with only the occasional word exchanged between the two. From time to time, Luna saw something that brought a smile to her face. There was a row of mushrooms, each one getting smaller, like members of a tiny family. An owl flapped down to a branch to curiously watch the pedestrians on the trail.
From around one of the trees, a pair of soft, curious eyes peered out at them, and Luna was delighted to see that it was a possum. And it wasn’t alone. From the other side of the tree, a small turtle appeared alongside it. And from beneath the nearby bushes, a skunk and a porcupine peeked cautiously out. It was as if they had all gathered for some secret jamboree, and were just waiting for everypony to pass by in order to continue.
Another breeze blew, and Capper clutched his coat a little tighter. Luna’s wing wrapped gently around him, and his shivering stopped.
“For somepony with all that fur, you seem to get cold easily,” Luna said.
“The better to hold you close,” Capper said, putting his paw around Luna.
Luna leaned closer to him and rubbed her head against his shoulder.
“We’re here,” Capper said.
When she looked ahead, Luna saw a park that she had never visited before. The grass grew with a bluish tint, waving slightly in the breeze as if to welcome the newcomers. Flower gardens bordered the pathway to guide the creatures along. In the middle of it all was a large tree stump, which Capper guided Luna towards. When they took their seat upon it, Capper hugged Luna a little more tightly before the world before them illuminated with a hundred fireflies, which hovered above a small pond. At one end of the pond, a choir of frogs sat upon the rows of stones to sing their nightly serenade. Luna smiled as she watched them hop up to gulp down the fireflies in one bite. All that under the night sky that she had created made it greater than any treasure or magic spell in all the world.
“I have no words for this,” Luna whispered as she snuggled closer to Capper.
“Beautiful,” Capper answered.
Luna glanced up and saw that Capper was looking at her. And it made her smile. With nopony else had she shared such a moment of unimaginable sincerity and closeness. Something beautiful that she could keep for herself forever and always. And even if she may have one day never share it with Capper again, it was hers.
For some reason, Luna remembered what Capper had said to her that day in the donut shop. About the experiment of destiny. But there was no way that she was going to tell him that it had gone well. Not yet at any rate.
A gentle humming from Capper caught Luna’s ear. A tune that she didn’t recognize and allowed him to continue for a moment.
“What is that song?” she wondered.
“I don’t remember the title. But, it’s about a stallion whose best friend is leaving him, and he’s trying to get him to come back to him. Kind of an inappropriate thing to have on my mind right now, I guess,” Capper answered.
“Not really,” Luna said. “Do you come here often?”
“Only when I really need it. But, I’ve always wanted to bring somepony else up this way to show it to them.”
Luna rested her head on Capper’s shoulder.
“So, I’m the first who’s seen this place with you?” she asked.
“I wanted the first time to be with somepony special.”
Luna nuzzled his face again, breathing in the smell of his tobacco/vanilla cologne.
“I’m sorry, Luna,” Capper said.
“Darling, you’ve already apologized,” Luna replied.
“I mean about everything. And everything else…I…How do I say it?”
A silent moan from Luna quieted Capper’s voice.
“I know you don’t mean to hurt anypony. Especially not me. But you aren’t defined by your beginning. In any story, it’s the page you’re on that matters the most,” Luna said, her soft, warm breath wafting through Capper’s fur as she nuzzled him.
“But…What happens next? What if nothing ever changes?” Capper whispered.
“You’ve changed.”
Capper had no idea what she had meant. Whatever she saw, he never noticed. But it was only knowing that he did that made him smile.
In his most private moments, Capper would lose himself in a sea of what-ifs. How would his life have turned out if he had never lost his parents, never met Chummer, never had to put up Needy, never went deep in hock with Verko, never had to associate in any way with the seamy underbelly of his home. Now, he was wondering if any of that had never happened if he would have met Luna.
“I guess so,” Capper unsurely said. “I guess I’ve always had a problem with letting anypony in.”
Luna scooched a little closer to Capper.
“That’s me as well. Only, I’ve had trouble letting anypony go,” she said.
“How do you mean?”
“Well, when you live as long as an alicorn does, you tend to lose every friend you’ve ever made. Whether you want to, or not,” Luna answered.
“I see…” Capper said.
He and Luna were both silent for many moments, huddled together atop the stump as they held one another and watched the fireflies on the pond. After so long, Capper decided to break the silence.
“Do you remember what you said on our first date?” he asked.
“Mm?” Luna dully murmured.
“You said that no dream was too big, and that it was never too late to achieve it. Wellll…”
Luna shifted her head atop Capper’s shoulder, looking him in the eye.
“I kind of started writing something,” Capper sheepishly said.
“Oh? Have you really?” Luna asked, smirking.
“Yeah. It’s just a song that I started writing when I was thirteen, but I never actually finished. I don’t know if it’s any good, but I kind of like what I have so far.”
“I think it would be lovely,” Luna said.
“How do you know?” Capper asked.
“Because I’ve heard you sing before.”
Capper scoffed and rolled his eyes as he rubbed Luna’s shoulder.
“That’s really nice of you to say, but you’ve only heard me singing somepony else’s song. Not what I wrote,” he said.
“Then let me hear it,” Luna said.
Capper saw Luna’s silent plea in her eyes. The earnest desire to hear him sing the song that he had written. To hear something that he had been holding in his heart since he was a kitten. He put his paws on Luna’s shoulder and allowed her to scoot away from him as he stood up.
With the lighting of the fireflies and the choir of frogs at his back, Capper almost looked like a singer on a grand stage. To Luna’s amazement, his ratty red coat seemed to have fixed itself in those moments that he stood before her, his paw across his chest as he bowed to her.
This was it. The moment where Capper would let his heart spill forth for Luna. His eyes closed and his mouth opened.
"Maybe I will when I'm finished with it,” Capper said suddenly.
Luna tried to answer, but all she could do was wheeze out a silent laugh. After such a grand buildup, everything had fallen flat.
“Don’t seem so disappointed,” Capper deadpanned.
“It’s not that. It’s–” Luna never did finish her sentence as she got ahold of herself. She motioned back to the stump beside herself. “Won’t you come back? It’s cold here by myself.”
“Don’t you need to wear a sleazy nightgown to say things like that?” Capper asked.
“Next time, perhaps you could wear it?” Luna joked.
“You put on something pink and frilly, and you got a deal,” Capper said, pulling Luna close.
They looked over the pond, and a wondrous sight met their eyes. A raft made from a slab of tree bark was drifting across the water. Aboard it were two passengers, the porcupine and the skunk that Luna had seen on the trail before. The porcupine held a short stick in his paws, which he used to make the raft glide across the water. Behind him, the skunk watched the tiny fish beneath the ripples the boat’s wake made, the tip of her tail dipped into the water.
If Luna didn’t know better, she might have guessed that somepony had set it all up for them. Perhaps their possum friend had arranged for it all, the same way that Trixie had arranged so much of her own time with Capper. Of course that would be silly, but the idea made Luna giggle. Although, watching the tiny animals on the pond made her wonder.
“Capper?” she carefully began. “Um, it’s alright if you don’t answer this, but…erm…Where are we in this r…this relationship?”
For a moment, Luna was sure that Capper wouldn’t answer her. Of course it was a bit of a personal question. But it was one that she knew she had to ask.
“I’m sorry, Luna. But, I can’t answer that,” Capper said. “This is the first time that I’ve ever had anything real, so I don’t know the usual steps or stages.” He ran his paw through Luna’s mane. “But, for what it’s worth, I like where it’s going.”
“Me too,” Luna said, nuzzling Capper’s face again.
“Just imagine the headlines: ‘Equestrian princess involved in a cross-species relationship with an ex-con.’ In other news: ‘Storm King weds Bigfoot!’”
“Maybe I should start paying off the tabloids to keep quiet now,” Luna joked.
“Speaking of scandals, how’s your sister handling this?” Capper wondered.
“Oh. Celestia?” Luna said, her ears drooping slightly. “I haven’t exactly told her yet.”
“Alright,” Capper dismissively said. It seemed only natural for Luna to be hesitant. After all, it would only be a matter of time until everypony found out anyway. “Um…When do you plan on telling her?”
“I would like to tell her before she finds out from Trixie or Pinkie,” Luna said. “I suppose I’ll tell her when we find out where we are.”
“I think I’ll be ready by then too,” Capper said. He put his free paw into his pocket, wondering if this is what it felt like to be a kitten at the schoolyard talking to his crush. His head rested atop Luna’s, her ear tickling his fur as it twitched. So many words were kindling within him. Things he wished to tell her. All he had to do was say them. “I really like you, Luna. A lot.”
Damn! Why’d it have to be those stupid, simple words?
Luna returned to nuzzling Capper’s face. “And I like you too.”
For Luna, it felt like the strangest thing that she had ever said to anypony. Her stomach tightened when she realized that she had never said that to anypony ever. If she had to describe it, it was like being liberated from some room that she had never known the door was open the entire time. In so little time, Capper had made her feel so many things that she never knew she was missing. And like the characters in her favorite book, she was going to make her own way in her life and live it.
There could be no more waiting. A choice had to be made. There would be no reward or bounty to reap for all the passions that Capper had left behind and only now reined in. Waiting so long had been his crime, and now fortune and virtue smiled upon him.
I say we're done. You say we're near,
You tell me "Look how far we come,
When you choose not to live in fear"
Luna’s eyes went wide when she heard those words sung from Capper. She didn’t need to ask what song it was, knowing in her heart where those lyrics had come from.
“Is that about us?” Luna asked.
“Some of it. Some of it about Trixie and some of it about everything else.”
Cuz I want to be your hero even though I'm not the one to fight,
I don't think I'm strong enough but damn I would like to at least try,
As long as you're there by my side,
Luna nodded along to the words. If there were any flaws in the song, she couldn’t hear any of them. Capper’s sweet voice rang clearer than any bell or chime that she had ever heard.
Capper stood up with his back to the pond, the light of the fireflies illuminating him in elegant silhouette. A performer in his spotlight, Capper sang on.
I see the light,
That shines within your eyes,
You and I,
Could dance under the moonlight,
Cause you make me feel safe,
There was power in his voice. Luna’s chest began to swell with the reverberations of his words, and her mind focused completely on the words between the words. Where they had come from and what they meant to him. What he meant to her.
Like we could fly away to our escape,
Go to a magical place where no one can tell us what to do or say,
Just give me a reason to stay.
Are you that somebody,
Are you that somebody,
Are you that somebody that I need to love,
Capper’s voice slowed to a halt and his featureless silhouette peered at Luna from the light of the pond. A firefly passed near him, illuminating his feline eyes for just a moment.
“And that’s just the first verse,” Capper said.
“You wrote that?” Luna asked, her eyes widened.
“Well, you can’t expect it to be perfect. It’s still not finished.”
“That isn’t what I meant,” Luna giggled. “I really like it.”
“Yeah?”
“Indeed. You’re talented. It’s a beautiful gift. And I’m glad you shared it with me.”
Capper had to bite his lips to hide his smile. Doubts had been tumbling in his mind like a boulder down a hill. But as long as Luna liked it, that terrible avalanche would never bury him.
Luna’s eyes were back on the pond. She recalled the sight of the porcupine and the skunk on the makeshift raft, thinking how wonderful it was to be sharing the special night with other creatures. Across the way, she saw something that made her face light up with glee.
The possum that she had seen was carrying what looked like a tray of food on its back. Fancy mushrooms, sweet grass and pieces of bark were laid out like the portions of a meal. Through the reeds and grass, she thought that she could see the porcupine and the skunk sitting at a tiny tree stump.
Luna stood from her seat.
“Need to stretch your legs?” Capper asked.
“There’s something that I want to see over there,” Luna whispered. “Come. Let’s go watch.”
“Er, why don’t you just go? I’m feeling a little bit…inspired right now,” Capper said.
“Inspired? Oh,” Luna said, the reason dawning on her. “Then, don’t let me interrupt your delicate genius.”
“Thanks for understanding.”
Luna walked off on her own, careful to make as little noise as she could when she walked. Just as she walked beneath the shadow of a willow tree, she turned around to give Capper one last word.
“You know, if I had been Chummer, I wouldn’t have abandoned you. You’re a hell of a thing to lose.”
And she disappeared in the shadows of the tree.
Capper’s paw rested on his chest as tears threatened to flood his eyes. It was the simplest thing that was said to him, but he never knew how badly he had wanted to hear it. There was no more doubt in his mind. Luna was the one. And nopony was going to change that for him.
His eyes turned up to the stars. Their light poured down upon him like some sussurant wind. Beneath the welkin lights of the sky, the words came to him:
I want to make sure you’re okay and I can take you to our hideaway.
We’ll make a magical place where our stars will never ever fade.
You are my reason to stay.
How easily they came to him in that moment. He reached into his coat and withdrew the notebook and pencil that he never left his home without.
“Oh! Capper, my boy! That was beautiful!”
The voice made Capper’s pencil drag sharply across the page, and he whipped his head around to see the beady-eyed visage of Needy peering out at him from the shadows of one of the trees behind him.
“You don’t need to be here, Needy,” Capper caustically said, slamming his notebook shut.
“Now, now. There’s no law against a lowly pedestrian taking a stroll through a public park,” Needy said.
Capper eyed him like the rat he was, wanting to claw the legs off of Needy as he practically skipped toward him. Once he was as near as he dared, Needy started circling around Capper, humming to himself.
“So,” Needy began, “You and the little, old princess? Now, who’d have thunk it? It’s the stuff of fairy tales, it is.”
“If you come any closer, you’re going to have a very unhappy ending,” Capper said.
“Oh deary, oh my. That is quite the caustic wit you’ve developed, Capper,” Needy guffawed as he stepped closer to him. “Pray tell to those not in the know: how does it feel to wake up knowing that you’ve stolen the heart of the Princess of the Night?”
“She’s got a sister if you want to find out,” Capper dared.
“Now, how could a lowly rat like me claw my way into royalty’s good graces? Suffice it to say, I never had the way with others that you do. As pleasant as I try to be, I always end up rubbing others the wrong way. Although, if you would like to help an old friend out, you could tell me how you managed to pull it off…”
“Nothing was ‘pulled off.’ We were friends before, so I didn’t need to do anything that you would,” Capper said.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were accusing me of something,” Needy said, stepping closer again. “Regardless, I don’t think ‘friends,’ as you put it, nuzzle like you two do.”
It took all of Capper’s restraint to keep the shock he felt from reaching his face. As his brain slowly returned to function, Needy stepped well within arm’s reach of Capper.
“Don’t misunderstand me, my boy. I just thought it was a beautiful thing for you to find somepony you like. Although…” Needy trailed off, pretending to be in deep thought. “Although, what would your princess think about little old you if she knew the crowd you run with? Maybe, if she knew the things you did, would she still find you to be such an upstanding feline?”
Sweat perspired on Capper’s forehead, as he began to dread the direction of Needy’s conversation.
“For a price, these things can always go away,” Needy said, cocking one eyebrow.
He smirked as Capper stared silently at him. As he was, Capper wasn’t able to do a thing. And Needy drove the point home by stepping ever so slightly closer to Capper. A decision he immediately regretted.
A sharp pain stuck into Needy’s abdomen. Looking down, he saw Capper’s paw, claws unsheathed and stabbing into him.
“You’re not dead yet, Needy. The cuts aren’t as deep as they feel,” Capper said, tightening his grip on Needy’s abdomen.
“You never do fail to impress,” Needy said, trying to keep his wry smile. “That’s why Verko always liked you. Unlike the rest of us, you didn’t need money, prestige, or an intimidating personality to get what you wanted. Somehow, you always knew what to say and what to do. And it’s all paid off big for you. Now that you got Princess Luna as a nuzzle-buddy, nopony would dare mess with you.”
Needy tried to laugh, but stopped when Capper pushed him backwards, his claws still stuck centimeters into his stomach.
“I know what scares you, little man,” Capper said. “Everything you do is to try and please Verko. Because the second you stop being useful to him, you’ll have nothing. That’s because you’re no value to anypony honest.”
He shoved Needy hard, releasing him from his claws. Needy held his bleeding stomach, watching Capper with that impish grin and a fury in his eyes.
“Whatever game you have going, I’m not playing,” Capper said. “It’s all behind me now. Klugetown. Verko. And especially you, you crumb-sucking sewer rat. Anything you want with me is a waste of your time. I thought your pegasus friend would have sent you that message. So get out of here, before I call Luna back over.”
To say that Needy was unsurprised would be untrue. How much Capper had changed was a blow that felt like a knockout punch.
“I suppose an apology is in order. I never meant any offense to you or your little ladyfriend. So, I suppose I’ll take my leave,” Needy said, carefully pacing backwards. “Have a nice life, won’t you?”
Capper glowered at Needy, until he disappeared down the path. Everything the little rat had said put him on edge. Because if Needy knew, it was only a matter of time until Verko knew. Unless Verko already knew, and that was why Needy was tailing him!
“Damn!” Capper silently cursed to himself.
He looked at his paws, the tips of his claws dappled with red from Needy’s stomach. In all his life, he had never resorted to physical coercion to get his way. Whatever Luna had said before about how he was changing, perhaps there was something else in him that had transformed. Something that Luna wouldn’t have liked if she saw it.
Sometime before, Trixie had mentioned talking to Luna about Needy. And Capper supposed that the time to do so was drawing near. For the moment, he wished nothing more than to enjoy the rest of the evening with his beloved princess. And that time was nearer than he thought.
A faint rustling of hooves through the grass drew Capper’s attention, and he quickly wiped the blood on his paws onto his red coat. And there was Luna, newly arrived from her expedition to the other side of the pond.
“Find what you were looking for?” he asked.
“Yes! Capper, you missed quite the show,” Luna giggled. She smiled broadly at the memory of seeing the possum leave the makeshift table, then return with another course of the meal, and at how the skunk and the porcupine adorably nibbled their food as they looked at one another from across the little tree stump. “And did you find what you were looking for?”
“What?”
“Your inspiration. Did it come to you?” Luna asked.
“Ah, yeah. It came to me,” Capper replied.
Capper’s chest clenched when he saw the way that Luna was looking curiously at him in the very same way that she had when she discovered his black eye.
“Are you well?” Luna wondered.
“I’m fine,” Capper said.
“You seem flustered.”
“It’s nothing. I was just trying to force a few more verses out, but I couldn’t think of anything. I got a few more lines. Although, I don’t think they constitute another stanza of the verse,” Capper said.
“Now, Capper. As an artist myself, I can tell you that these things shouldn’t be forced,” Luna said, returning to nuzzling Capper’s shoulder as she rested against his chest. “What do we do now, darling?”
“Erm…” Capper thought about what else there was to do next. Something that they could do far away from where they were now. “I don’t know about you, but I’m in the mood for something sweet right about now.”
“Thank goodness. I thought it was just me,” Luna said. “If you don’t mind a bit of a train ride, I know where we can go. Hopefully, Pinkie will have drank everything there is to drink by the time we get there.”
“Don’t worry. If she insists, I’ll take a shot for you,” Capper said.
“So gallant,” Luna chuckled as she started nuzzling Capper’s neck.
Capper smiled as he embraced Luna, his paws tracing beneath her wings and tickling her feathers, making Luna giggle quietly. He knew that if anypony knew about them, there was going to be an uproar. But he didn’t care. He had gotten what he wanted, and it was real.
For just a fraction of a second, Capper swore he felt Luna’s lips against his cheek, and his fur stood on end. As though enchanted, he put his paw on Luna’s back and escorted her down the path just the way that he had that night in the royal gardens.
The trees that bordered the path seemed to grow larger, their branches swaying menacingly as the wind blew through them. The moon was hidden behind a cloud, and the shadows beneath the trees grew darker still. And as Capper watched the shadows, he knew that they were watching him right back.
“Luna!” Capper said, more urgently than he had meant.
“What is it, darling?” Luna asked.
Capper watched the darkness beneath the trees, feeling that needle-sharp smile upon him.
“It’s a bit of a walk to the train station from here. Could we just magic ourselves there?” he asked.
Luna looked curiously at Capper, seeing something different in his eyes. Except she couldn’t understand what it was.
“Very well. You do make a good point. After all, we don’t want our night to end so soon because of a silly commute,” Luna conceded.
Her horn glowed and Capper held onto her. In a flash, they both were gone, and the shadows continued to peer out from beneath the moonless branches.