A Second Chance at Love

Old Friends

Sweetie Belle stood in front of the stove top, a pair of pans in her magic. One pan was loaded up with scrambled eggs and the other was full of hash browns, Kuray's favorite. She didn't care much for the fried strips of potato, or any potato in general, but she figured after years of being gone he was up for a treat.

"You know if I can remember correctly, you hate hash browns, with a fierce passion." Kuray said behind her. Her heart fluttered, half from surprise and the other half from the sound of his voice. It had only been a week since he had returned and she was still getting used to how silently he walked around. He was like an even quieter and much more cuddly version of her sister's old cat.

"You've been gone for so long and I've been so busy I haven't been able to give you a good 'welcome back." She said without turning around. He ghosted up next to her and kissed her cheek softly.

"I don't know, last night was pretty welcom-"

"We'll talk about last night in a bit." She said hushing him followed by a quick wink. He smirked and kissed her cheek again before walking over to one of the cupboards and pulling down two plates and setting them next to the stove top and she picked up the two pans and heaped half of the pan of eggs onto Kuray's and then her own and then doing the same with the hash browns; though she gave him a considerably larger amount than him. Kuray leaned down and took the lip of the plate in his jaws to carry it over to the table but Sweetie Belle yanked it out of his mouth with her magic and sat it back down on the counter.

"Even though it's breakfast I still prefer to set the table properly.' Sweetie Belle said, her voice taking on a regal quality.

"You're starting to sound like your sister." he said jokingly.

"I do not! She exclaimed, her voice cracking mid sentence. She blushed furiously, her voice hadn't cracked in years.

"That's my mare," Kuray said kissing her cheek and walking over to the small dining table she had set up just outside of the kitchen.

"I do not sound like my sister," she grumbled to herself as she picked up her own plate with her magic and followed him.

They ate in silence for a few moments, Kuray wolfing down his hash browns. Damn, that changeling could eat. After Kuray finished eating he sat down his fork and wiped hiss mouth.

"So Sweetie Belle, I wanted to go visit an old friend today, could you tell me if he's still in town?" Kuray asked. Sweetie belle sat down her fork as well and wiped her mouth daintily.

"Sure, i've kept up pretty well with most of your ld friends after you," she paused for a second, "went away." Kuray noted how she avoided the word 'left' or 'disappeared'.

"I wanna catch up with Dusk." Kuray said and sweetie belle nearly spat out her coffee.

"Dusk?" She asked wiping her mouth.

"Yeah, surely you kept up with him right. He was my best friend, next to you of course." Kuray said, making sure to stress the last bit.

"Kuray, I'm sorry but Dusk is not the same, stallion, as he was back in school. He's changed a lot." She said, Kuray noted how she spat out the word 'stallion'.

"Changed how?" Kuray asked, the guarded concern nearly undetectable in his voice.

Kuray walked though the strip club that stood nestled clandestinely in the alleyway of Ponyville. The backside of the building that faced the street just looked like a brick wall. Kuray didn't bother changing into a regular pony, here a changeling was probably the least weird thing you could find in here. He shouldered open the doors, the bouncers not even giving him a second glance as he walked in.

Kuray walked disgusted past a group of stallions who were practically salivating over a middle aged blue mare with a silvery mane expertly whoring herself out on the raised platform. Kuray wondered how someone could be so desperate or have such little respect for themselves that they would do something like this for money, and he found it even more disgusting that these stallions who were mostly married or dating enjoyed it to the extent they did. 'The sooner I can get out of here the better.' He thought to himself.

After a few minutes of walking he spotted his quarry, dusk sat off in the corner with one hoof wrapped around a bottle of whiskey and the other around the mare on his lap's waist. He trotted over and threw the mare off of him.

"Hey!" She hollered. "What the fu-" she was cut off by Kuray extending a hoof full of bits and dropping them on her own. She smiled and walked off.

"What tha fug mate?" Dusk complained. Aside from the drunk slurring of his words he had also managed to develop a thick highlander accent in the time he'd been gone. "Who da fug do ya think ya think you are?" Kuray grabbed him by his mane and picked him up so their eyes met, which wasn't very high considering Kuray wasn't that tall.

"Look at me and think hard." Kuray said seriously, he was already pissed and seeing his old friend drunk off his ass in a whore house didn't really help. Dusk narrowed his eyes and stared into Kuray's.

"No way," dusk said giggling to himself in realization. "Fuggoff mate, no way." Kuray let go of dusk and he plopped back down on the couch.

"On your hooves, your coming with me." Kuray said roughly.

"I don't have to do shit." Dusk said smugly.

"Would you rather me make you come with me?"

"You and what army?" Dusk said smugly sipping from the whiskey bottle.

Kuray dropped dusk roughly on sweetie belle's couch. "You brought him back here." Sweetie belle said to no one in particular. "You brought him back here." She said again as if she couldn't believe the words herself.

"He's a dick but he is my friend." Kuray said poking him, dusk stirred slightly in his sleep but didn't wake up.

"He's a drunk pervert is what he is." Sweetie belle said.

"I can fix that." Kuray replied with a smirk.