A Second Chance at Love

House but Not a Home

Sweetie Belle's heart flittered at the sound of the knock. There was always that small chance that it could be Kuray at the door, finally returned from his personal mission to see to it that she was safe and that there was no pony left from his Ex-hive or any others to try and harm her.

But she shoved down the enthusiasm. 'Of all of the days that he could come back to me, why would today be it?' She asked herself. It was a sad prospect but the truth is never easy to take, but she had made a habit of being frank with herself when it came to the topic of him. She composed herself, unlocked the door and pulled it open with her magic. A small bell hanging off of the end of a piece of wood jingled as the door hit it. Later on in the day when she would get to work she would leave it unlocked so ponies could come in as they pleased.

Behind the door was an unremarkable stallion a little shorter than herself with a steel grey coat and mane to match, his tail was long and messy and matched his mane in color. Everything about this pony seemed to be grey except the eyes which had a slight blue tinge to them but otherwise, grey.

"Hi, I know it's early but I really need to ask a favor Miss. Belle." The grey pony said. Sweetie belle cocked her head sideways and stared at him for a moment.

"Do I know you?" She asked him as well as herself.

"No, probably not. I heard of your work when I was in Canterlot a few years back and now this has come up and I remembered your name and, well, here I am." He said explaining in one breath. "I need you to make me a suit." He said.

"That's not much of a favor to ask at all." She scoffed. "I am a tailor after all it's what I do." She said smiling. When she was younger the prospect of becoming a tailor sounded like hell on earth but she had discovered she loved it whenever she first helped her big sister with one of her 'really big and urgent' orders from celebrities way back when.

"There's one catch though." He said rubbing his forehooves together nervously. "I need the suit by tonight." He said with an embarrassed smile. Her eyes widened and she stared at the pony but she knew what it was like to be in a rough situation like this, but it was nearly impossible to to tailor a suit in a single day, let alone a few hours.

"What is it you need it for." Sweetie said nervously.

"I'm going out on a date with a mare I haven't seen in a long time." He said, the nervous look in his eyes turned to a pleading one. Sweetie belle could feel the stress coming off of him but she didn't know if she could do it and she wasn't going to make promises she couldn't make to a pony she couldn't help.

She stepped aside and pushed the door open a bit more and waved him in. His eyes lit up and he rushed in. "Oh thank you. Oh thank you thank you thank you!" He said. Sweetie belle pointed to the raised platform to the middle of her workplace? She quickly walked back to her work bench and retrieved her measuring tape and clip board. She tore off a clean sheet with spaces for marking notes and measurements.

"I'm sorry I don't think I caught your name she said." Tapping her pencils to the paper.

"Cloud Chaser he said." She nodded and checked a box on the clipboard to accommodate for wings. She bundled the measuring tale around her right forenoon and trotted back over to the stallion who aS just barely standing on his hind hooves on his own though he soon found his balance and stood with his arms apart and Sweetie Belle went to work. She quickly went around him, taking his measurements, just like Rarity had taught her, but when she was taking the measurement of his chest she noticed a long scar running diagonally from his right collar none down to his lower right ribs. She caught herself staring for a moment and quickly ad erred her eyes but it was too long for him not to notice.

"I served in the guard." He said. She looked up and locked eyes with him. They weren't that normal glassy star into the distance but a proud, aggressive fire in his grey eyes. "Back whenever the we were letting some of the changelings integrate into the city a few weren't as kind as the others. A midnight watch and I was alone was all it took." He paused for air. "It happened so fast." He said. "I woke up the next morning in a hospital." He said as sweetie Belle backed away looking at the clipboard floating next to her.

"You seem to have exact measurements as a suit I have in the back already finished." She said amazed.

"Really?" His ears perked up.

"Yeah, let me to grab it for you." She said. Setting down the clipboard and walking to the back of the store.

Back behind a couple dozen mannequins, some adorned with fabrics of all kinds and others stood bare; but behind them all was one clad in a simple grey suit, one of the first shed ever made. She rested her hoof on the fabric and a small plume of dust erupted from it. She sneezed and waved if away as well as wiping away a small tear that had formed at the corner of her eye.

She had made this suit for Kuray when she pad first learned how and that she had a natural affinity for making and tailoring clothes, just like her sister. She looked back at her cutie mark, a needle and thread wrapping around a large red heart. 'I guess he helped me get it after all.' She thought to herself, recalling one of his promises that he never had the chance to keep. She shook her head sending the memories away and picked up the mannequin and shook some of the dust away from it before walking back to the front of the store where the pony was admiring a picture of her and Kuray.

Sweetie belle cleared her throat and Cloud Chaser replaced the photo and spun around to face her as if he hadn't been doing anything. "So, it's about your size but all the same you should try it on." She said. There was a small curtained off area of the shop towards the back near her loft. She placed the mannequin in the center of the curtains and left him be to try it on.

As he changed she couldn't help but think about his expression when he was looking at the picture. Usually ponies looked at it thoughtfully. Even after changelings had been integrated into pony society they normally kept to themselves. Not many ponies had pictures with one of them, had dated one of them, or anything else of the sort. But rather than looking at it thoughtfully p he looked at it sadly, almost tortured. 'Maybe he was close to a changeling as well, maybe we're two of a kind.' She thought to herself. She couldn't have been the only pony to have a relationship with a changeling, but Cloud Chaser stepped out of the curtains and pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Wow." She said out loud not noticing she had. The stallion was handsome in a careless sort of way. His mane was a mess but otherwise he looked sharp. The suit color was a shade darker than his coat and it fit perfectly, not to her surprise.

"I like it," he said looking at himself in the full body mirror. "How much?" He asked her. She waved him over to her counter with the receipt paper on it, hiding a sad smile all the while.

Later on that evening sweetie belle lay on the ground next to the fire, a copy of "The Fault in our Clouds," sat open in front of her. Suddenly there was a knock at the door that made her jump. She hated how she got startled so easily but all the same she had come to live with it. She marked the page in her book and got up, stretching her back out as well. She trotted up to the door, but rather than opening it with her magic she felt compelled to open it with her hooves. She touched the doorknob and a small jolt of electric excitement shot up her arm. There was always that thrill that it would be Kuray behind the wood, but it never was. She calmed herself and then pulled the door open and her heart almost stopped.

Before her stood only a pale shadow and a pair of pale green ovals in the darkness. Her eyes widened to a nearly impossible size and she fumbled around with her right hoof for the switch and slammed it up and a bright light appeared above her head, illuminating the creature on her doorstep.

Her brain couldn't process what was going on. In front of her stood a changeling with pale green eyes, a goofy smile and to top it all off, said changeling was in a grey suit that looked haut like the one she had sold earlier today. She stared at the mysterious changeling for a second, looking for any identifiable features until she spotted a small bit of red shell poking up from tenacity of the suit, and that was when the gears in her brain went into overdrive.

"Kuray?" She asked, she felt weak in the knees staring at the changeling who's from got even wider.

"Hello Sweetie," he replied. And that was all sweetie belle could take. Her knees buckled and her brain shut down. The last thing she saw before she went out was Kuray rushing to catch her, and then her eyes shut and she drifted off into blackness.