//------------------------------//
// The Absence Of Truth 
// Story: Lost Without Love 
// by AnnEldest 
//------------------------------//

The day had been long and difficult for The Great and Powerful Trixie. After the fight she had been involved in that morning, she had been on edge for seeing that pegasus again. To her, it was any given moment that her life could come to an end with just one ill-timed surprise attack. Her entire body trembled as she remembered the feeling of the blade against her neck, and how it had just begun to drag across her jugular. Even against Eris, she felt no such fear. What bothered her the most was Capper’s fear of telling any authorities about it.
Her own friend was willing to dismiss such a thing, and that was more disturbing than anything that she had encountered. She thought that she could understand it, but it still didn’t sit well with her. The best thing that she could do was to go straight to the princesses herself and tell them everything. Even an anonymous tip to Twilight would be adequate. Still, it would come back to her that she was involved. And that would end anything she had with Capper. Worse still, it may end anything that Capper had with Luna.
Trixie reflected upon the week, feeling as if lately the nights had grown more vibrant and beautiful than they normally had been. And it made her smile to know that she may have had a hoof in it by convincing Capper to ask Princess Luna on a date. It was all because of The Great and Powerful Trixie. No…Trixie, the Great and Powerful Matchmaker of Equestrian Royalty! It had a ring to it.
As Trixie mused to herself during her walk home, she spotted something that made her smile as brightly as the moon above. There was Capper, padding merrily toward Sugarcube Corner. And he was escorting Princess Luna. How truly wonderful it was to see them together. And it was all because of her. As she watched them, Trixie’s hoof inched in their direction.
“No,” she resolutely told herself. “This is not the business of Trixie, the Great and Powerful Matchmaker of Equestrian Royalty. She shall not intrude.”
Trixie grimaced when she heard her new title spoken aloud, and silently decided to go back to just being ‘great and powerful.’ Her mind made up, she turned to leave.
Even though her body turned, her face remained fixated upon the happy couple. Capper had just opened the door for Luna to enter first.
“What is it that they do on a date, anyhow?” she wondered. “No! It is none of my business. There are more important things to attend at home.”
Like sorting decks of magic cards and polishing her wands.
“Perhaps if I were to stop in for a slice of chocolate fudge cake…”
Fudge cake was tempting.
“No! As of now, Trixie the Match– The Great and Powerful Trixie is on a diet!”
But what about Capper? Would he be safe with a band of violent criminals on his tail?
“That does it! For the sake of her friend’s safety, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall eat cake!”
And that was that. Trixie boldly trotted over to the bakery and opened the door so forcefully that the bell above practically rang the hours.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie has come to eat cake!” she announced.
“Yet she never seems to want anything we’re not having,” Capper grimly muttered to Luna.
“Capper! Fancy seeing you here. Had a late night craving for something sweet as well?” Trixie pleasantly asked.
“Yes. Luna and myself, just the two of us, wanted to have something sweet,” Capper said. If it wasn’t one asshole, it was another.
“Then, let’s not wait to indulge ourselves. Fret not. The bill is on me. The Great and Powerful Trixie,” Trixie said.
“Just say the word, and it’s made,” Pinkie announced as she popped up from behind the counter. “Hiya, Princess. Nice to see you’re feeling better.”
“Can we not talk about that?” Luna uncomfortably asked, suddenly aware of the other customers there.
“So, the bill’s on you?” Capper asked Trixie.
“Indeed,” Trixie replied. Her heart sank when she saw Capper deviously rub his paws together.
“Let’s start with a half dozen cupcakes,” Capper said.
Trixie’s spirits lifted ever so slightly.
“A box of biscotti,” Capper continued. “A tube of those colorful, little cream cookies. Lemon squares. A dozen bear claws. Devil’s food cake. And a slice of apple pie.”
Trixie began to regret her decision to hoof the bill.
“Lulu, honey, what looks good to you?” Capper asked.
Trixie bit her lip.
“Oh, nothing much,” Luna dismissively said. “A box of baklava. White chocolate molten lava cake with a mint filling. Ruby chocolate brownies. Hot chocolate, Baja style. A platter of churros with extra cinnamon. Two caramel apples. Cannoli with a traditional sweet ricotta cheese filling. And a whole tiramisu, sprinkled with toffee bits.”
Trixie’s ears drooped gradually with every word.
“You heard her. Get the mare some chocolate,” Capper said, clapping a paw around Luna’s shoulders.
“Comin’ up!” Pinkie declared. “Capper! What happened to your eye?”
“I fell and landed on my face,” Capper said, trying his best to not turn his black eye away from Pinkie.
“That looks like one serious shiner,” Pinkie said.
“Pinkie,” Luna interjected, “do you think it wise to keep your Princess of the Night in chocolate withdrawal?”
“Back in a minute,” Pinkie abruptly said, before leaving for the kitchen.
Trixie was left with Capper and Luna, who only stared at one another. After what felt like minutes, Trixie broke the silence.
“You know, after that accident you had,” she said.
“It’s alright. Luna knows,” Capper said.
“You…She does?” Trixie asked.
“Yes. Capper told me everything,” Luna replied. She noticed the way that Capper and Trixie were tensely watching one another and stepped toward the counter. “I think I’ll go help Pinkie in the kitchen.”
“Honey, you don’t have to go,” Capper said.
“I think some of my orders are a bit beyond Pinkie’s level of skill. After all, I don’t want actual rubies in my brownies, do I?”
“Don’t you?” Pinkie asked from the kitchen.
Case in point. Luna trotted around the counter and walked with Pinkie into the kitchen, leaving Trixie and Capper to find an open table.
“You told her everything?” Trixie asked.
“Everything,” Capper affirmed.
“This is perfect! She can send the authorities after that pegasus and her gang, and–”
“I don’t even know if she’s going to do anything about it yet,” Capper said, holding up a paw to stop Trixie.
“What?! After what happened!? You told her about…You know,” Trixie said, dragging her hoof across her throat.
“Yeah. I told her. Except what can she do, besides tell the guards to keep an eye out for a pegasus who’s probably skipped town and then some?” Capper said.
“But we know she’ll be back. Needy wants you! And he won’t stop until he has whatever he wants from you,” Trixie said. “You did tell her about Needy?”
Capper bit his lip and shook his head, “Not yet.”
“Just when do you plan on doing good for yourself and putting that hooligan in prison?”
“I think the reason things have gone this well for so long is that I haven’t told her about Needy,” Capper said. “If I ever need to, I will. Until then, it’s on a need to know basis.”
“Is that it? Are you going to base the best thing that ever happened to you on ‘need to know?’ If so, you’re doomed, Capper Dapperpaws,” Trixie spat back.
“I’m sensing hostility here,” Capper said.
“At least not all of your senses have left you!” Trixie snapped.
The ponies at the nearest table decided to take their late night snacks to go and shuffled out the door as Trixie’s bitter words reverberated through the shop.
“I never had to put myself on the line for you. It would have been easy for me to turn around and let you do things your own way. The same way that would have led to you sitting in your home with a bowl of sunflower seeds and your notebook in paw. At least you would have been happier that way, doing all of the same things that you always did.”
“So, why did you?” Capper asked.
Trixie seethed quietly, remembering that rainy day when she arrived at Capper’s house.
“Because I wanted to see you happy,” she finally said. “I saw the way that you two talked before we went to face Eris. It was a way that I had never seen Princess Luna before. Even if you didn’t see it, I could. As your friend, I wanted you to have it. Even if it meant putting my life in danger, which it has.” Her teeth clenched and her eyes narrowed. “And the worst of it is that you don’t even seem to care!”
“You can’t say that. Because I do,” Capper sternly said.
“What have you done to show that you care?”
“I told Luna about what happened this morning, didn’t I?”
Trixie opened her mouth to rebuke Capper, but the words never came to her.
“I didn’t save your ass either? You didn’t seem so ‘great and powerful’ with that death grip on your horn,” Capper said. “How about going along with fighting Eris?”
“You can’t fool me, Capper. You didn’t have Princess Luna in mind when you accepted that quest,” Trixie said. She saw the way that Capper was clawing the tabletop. “Or was it this that made you think you were more like Needy than you would like?”
She gasped as Capper’s paw slapped down atop her hoof.
“You don’t have any idea what Needy’s like,” Capper caustically said, his voice low and steady.
“I know you, don’t I?” Trixie said, removing her hoof from Capper’s grip. “I know all of this, because I’ve been there myself. And if you don’t start doing some serious self-evaluation, you’re going to hurt Luna in a way that you won’t be able to take back.”
Trixie collected her hat from where she hung it on the back of her chair and withdrew a pouch full of bits from it.
“For your order. Let me know how this turns out.”
With those last words, Trixie made her exit from the bakery.







The scenery rapidly shifted past the window of the train as Skylar Rose stared blankly into the darkness beyond the glass.
Hoofsteps were heard in the aisle beside herself, making her jump to alertness. Her eyes glanced to the aisle, and she was relieved to see a stallion she wasn’t familiar with walking past the empty seats to the next car.
Sky dared to sigh in relief, though she pulled her hood a little more tightly over her face.
It was a bold thing that she was doing. Nopony in their right mind would ever make the decision that she was making. But for the good of her sister, she was going to risk it. She was so close now. With every passing second, she was drawing ever nearer to the most dangerous moments of her life.
Sky returned her gaze to the window. Even though she had taken that route so many times, it seemed like hours longer to her. What was supposed to be the quickest way back to Canterlot was now the longest journey she had ever taken. Her worst fear was that somepony who recognized her had taken the same train. If she was seen, her life was over. With hers, Rosy’s was too.
There was no time for regrets for bad decision, or doubts for stupid ones as the train hissed to a stop. Sky turned her face from the window, fearing that somepony on the platform may recognize her. At the end of the car, she saw a pony stand up and disembark the train. She glanced up at the clock near the door. Ten more minutes until the train started moving again. Ten agonizing, dreadful minutes.
A dreary, acrid smell filled Sky’s nostrils as she became aware of soft steps coming towards her.
“Seem like you made a big leap,” a low voice croaked.
Sky jumped when she recognized the voice and stared wide eyed at Ricky, who flicked the brim of his hat upward to flash his orange eyes at her, his cigarette flaring brightly in his beak. Her throat paralyzed as she desperately tried to decide whether she should run from him and take the long route to Canterlot.
Ricky sat down in the seat across from her and rested his feet on the seats next to her, blocking Sky’s exit.
“What are you doing here?” Sky finally said.
“I’m here make sure you not do somethin’ stupid,” Ricky said, puffing on his cigarette.
“I–I already know not to start any more fights…” Sky weakly said.
Smoke spewed from Ricky’s beak as he took his cigarette between his fingers and laughed. With a flick of his thumb, the cigarette flipped into his other hand and he took a pair of tickets out of his pocket. 
“Ya drop these before you leave. You lucky I find ‘em first an’ put them on you table,” Ricky said. “‘Tween that an’ stealin’ Grieco’s wallet when he passed out, it weren’t hard to figure out what you up to.”
Sky clenched her teeth as she swiped the tickets back from Ricky.
“What makes you think this is any of your business?” she angrily hissed.
“Oh, it my business, girly. When Needy find out you gone, he gonna be mighty pissed. An’ when he find out about you, he gonna find out about little Rosy too. Don’t ask me how, but he got ways. An’ when he do, he gonna find out I keep her secret from him. Af’a that…Well, you get’a picture.”
Sky sighed heavily to herself, now realizing how serious her decision was.
“Where is Needy now?” she asked.
“He not far from here. Somewhere up Can’alot way. So if we get off now, that give us twenty minutes for ‘nother train come an’ take us back Manehattan. Needy never gotta know. I even let you keep Grieco’s money,” Ricky said.
It was a tempting offer for Sky. Everything could stay the same as it was for herself and the others. Nopony had to risk getting hurt that way. But, what about everything else?
“It’s not worth it to me,” Sky said. “This is bigger than just paying off a few guards to get into the Gala. That fucking cat’s messed everything up!”
“How that?” Ricky wondered, his cigarette drooping in his jaw.
“We both know he’s not going to stay quiet forever. It’s all a matter when he finds his balls and rats us out,” Sky replied.
She turned away from Ricky and looked out at the night sky. It really was beautiful that night. First thing she was going to do was take Rosy camping once they were safely out of the city.
A cloud of smoke puffed from Ricky’s beak.
“I ‘mit, you ain’ wrong. All hell gonna break loose when’a princesses find out,” he said. “Still, i’s a stupid thing’a run away. Didn’t work the first time for you.”
Sky’s eyes went wide when she heard that. Nopony knew that.
“How?” she asked.
“You got it writ all over you, girly. Li’l baby pegasus with a bad attitude come rumblin’ with buncha lowlives like us? It not like you daddy sign a permission slip to do that.”
There was a swish of metal as Ricky’s cigarette was sliced in two by Sky’s knife.
Sky glared at Ricky from her seat, her teeth clenched hard enough to crack her weapon’s handle.
“Alright, Mr. Know-It-All. What do you think I should do?” she said.
The stub of the cigarette was pulled into Ricky’s beak. In a second, a brand new cigarette poked out between his teeth, and it was promptly lit.
“You can do what I say before: go back. Stay you course. Keep you head down, an’ you mouth shut,” Ricky said, his cigarette flickering. “Or, you go anywhere ain’t here.”
Sky watched as more ponies boarded the train, all of them ready to begin their journeys to a new place. Time was running out for her to make a decision.
“I ain’ gonna tell you what’a do. Just remember if you do run, it ain’ about you no more,” Ricky said.
His cigarette dimmed to a dull glow, and he stood up from his seat to depart the train.
Sky looked at the tickets in her hooves. Would it actually be worth it to try and run? She and Rosy could find a place where nopony knew them, and they could put everything behind themselves. Unless they found her again. Just like they had done with the cat!
“Fuck!” Sky groaned, and grabbed her luggage.
She stormed off the train, and the first thing she saw was Ricky’s back turned to her, a cloud of smoke surrounding him in the night breeze.
“Heh. Seems you reasonable after all,” Ricky croaked.
“I’ll do what I said I would. Then I’m out,” Sky said.
“That’s what Verko pay you for. When you done here, you might find a livin’ where you stab ponies. Bet you like that?”
Sky felt she had half a mind to stab Ricky right there, but put it aside when she realized she was only driving home his point.
“Let’s just go,” Sky said. She hiked up her luggage, but stopped after only a few steps.
“Don’t tell me you wishin’ you back on’a train?” Ricky said.
“Is that Princess Luna?”






A stack of pink pastry boxes balanced atop Luna’s back as she walked beside Capper, who held his own share of the bounty as they walked the late night streets of Ponyville. As she walked, Luna sipped happily from her piping hot cup of hot chocolate and dipped her churros into it, taking in the sweet flavors of chocolate and cinnamon.
“Pretty good haul for a night out,” Capper said, taking a bite of one of his bear claws.
“I don’t know if we really needed so much. I think we got a little carried away with our orders,” Luna said. She dipped another churro into her chocolaty drink and swallowed it whole. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“Of course not. Who’d be upset by leftover biscotti? That’s when it’s the best,” Capper said. “Speaking of which–” he dug through his boxes, until he found the one with the biscotti in it and took a bite. “Oh! Lemon pistachio! How does that mare do it?”
Luna finished the last bite of her churro and the last sip of her hot chocolate, before she teleported the empty cup to the nearest trash bin. For many moments, the two of them walked in silence. When Capper looked over, he saw Luna staring straight ahead with her eyes unfocused.
“Something on your mind?” Capper asked.
“Not really,” Luna answered.
Leaves blew on the path ahead of them, swirling like the many thoughts and conundrums that plagued a pony at any given time.
“How did things go with Trixie?” Luna asked.
“Good enough. She was kind of bitter about paying the tab that she offered to pay, but she’ll get over it,” Capper said.
Luna nodded to herself.
“Isn’t it funny to think that without her, we wouldn’t be here right now?” she asked.
“Funnily enough, I have thought about it. I guess she just saw something that neither of us did. And I’m glad she did.”
Capper nearly lost his balance as Luna leaned her side against him as they walked together. With his free paw, Capper steadied the boxes on Luna’s back while clutching his own parcels beneath his chin. He slowly removed his paw from Luna’s boxes and put it around her shoulders.
Their steps slowly halted, and they both put their boxes on the ground, holding one another one last time for the night.
“Do you remember when we first met? The first words I ever said to you?” Capper whispered.
Luna thought for a moment, until the words came back to her, “‘Well, if it isn’t the princess of my favorite time of day,’ was what you said.”
The moment he heard it spoken aloud by somepony else, Capper felt embarrassed. It was like he was suddenly possessed by a dumbass teenager who was speaking to somepony else for the first time in his life when he said that.
“Yeah…Ah…I’ve been thinking alot about our first meeting since that dance in the garden. It made me think that maybe you were somepony I liked for a lot longer than I thought,” Capper said.
Any way that Luna could have responded would have sat well with Capper. Anything but the quiet laughter that she was suppressing into his shoulder, that made her back quake and her legs wobble.
“Just wait until you hear the punchline,” Capper dully said.
“I’m not laughing at you, Capper. Only–” Luna raised her head to look Capper in the eye, “It was after you left the Gala that I started to think that you might have been flirting with me. And, silly me, I write it off as a normal interaction between us!”
Luna’s laughter subsided as she nuzzled Capper’s chest again, inhaling his cologne and tickling her nose with his fur.
“Hold me,” Luna whispered.
Capper traced his paws up Luna’s back and pulled her closely, never meaning to let her go again. Some twisted prank of fate had brought them together, and he would thank every lucky star in the sky that it had happened.
“Darling?” Luna began, “I think we should be going home now. If I’m not home before sunup, Celestia is going to have a fit.”
“Aw, what’s an aneurysm to an immortal?” Capper said as he stroked Luna’s mane.
“A hefty hospital bill,” Luna giggled.
Capper heard Luna sigh as she pulled his head nearer to her and brushed her lips against his ear.
“You don’t have to be afraid anymore, darling,” Luna whispered, her voice barely heard by even herself. “I will see to it that nopony will ever hurt you again. Say the word, and I can make your hurt go away.”
Capper gripped Luna’s mane, before he placed a shaking paw to cradle her head. His heart slowed nearly to a stop, and his eyes welled up as he held his own personal miracle close to him.
“Make your hurt go away,” Luna repeated.
It didn’t even feel like he had to make it go. For all Capper felt, it was as if it left him on its own every time he felt Luna’s heart beat against his. As Luna’s lips retreated from his ear, they met with Capper’s.
Luna moaned as she felt her body melt away. She could feel a fire pass from Capper onto her. It warmed her very being with a thousand flames that burned away all but her heart and her soul. And they were now Capper’s.
The fire dwindled, and Luna was left staring into Capper’s eyes. Her chest heaved passionately. Her lips quivered, eager for more. A delicacy that she would have to wait for, however.
“You…You don’t mess around…” Luna breathed.
“Not for you, Luna. Not anymore,” Capper said.
Luna licked the inside of her lips as she and Capper stared at one another.
“Erm…Why don’t I send our boxes directly to our homes? That way, we don’t have to worry about them during the train ride,” Luna said, teleporting the boxes of pastries to their respective homes.
“If it’s alright, I’d like to stay here a little while longer,” Capper said.
“More inspiration?” Luna chuckled.
“Something like that.”
“Then I wish you the best,” Luna said. “Goodnight, love.”
She rubbed her nose against Capper’s, and turned to leave toward the train station.
Love. That’s what it was. Without it, he had been broken down, torn apart, shattered and burned. Now, with love on his side, he was going to put everything behind him for good.
As she trotted to the train station, Luna thought about all of the wonderful things that laid ahead for her. Most of all, how was she going to tell Celestia that she was the first of the two of them to have a coltfriend? How jealous she was going to be! Or maybe it would be more fun to let her figure it out on her own?
Both Capper and Luna had left, unaware of the small audience that had seen everything that they had needed to.