Chapters 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.
Chapter 2: A Tough Customer
A Sweet Reunion
Sweetie Belle's eyes opened up slowly as she slid back into consciousness and immediately locked with another pair. A set that were pale green. She opened her eyes up a little bit more and she saw not just the eyes but the face of a changeling, her changeling, Kuray.
"Thank goodness you're okay. I was worried especially when you hit your head." He said smiling. When his lips curled up she noticed a small scar from the bottom of his snout to his chin, but it was old and nearly healed over.
"Kuray is that really you?" Sweetie belle asked herself. She didn't trust herself yet, she sometimes had very vivid dreams and she was still half asleep; or at least she felt like it.
"It's really me," he said smiling even wider at the sound of his name. He was happy to know she hadn't forgotten him after so long.
"If it's really you then tell me something only Kuray would know." She said smiling back.
"Hmm," he thought scratching his chin. "You used to practice kissing on your sister's manequi-" he was cutoff mid sentence when sweetie belle wrapped her hooves around his neck and pulled him down so their lips met. He stiffened up for a second but then relaxed and kissed back. It was absolute bliss until they both ran out of air and Kuray pulled away.
"You don't know how much I missed you." She said sitting up in the bed.
"I bet I do." He said sitting down next to her. "Because I missed you just as much." He said. Sweetie belle opened her mouth to say something else. It froze when she saw that sun light was pouring in through the window.
"Kuray, how long did you let me sleep?" She asked him.
"Uh, I don't know, 10, 11 hours maybe, you were out cold." He said suddenly concerned.
"Oh no. No no no no no NO!" Sweetie belle said jumping up out of the bed making Kuray jump back in surprise.
"Wait what's wrong?" He asked standing up urgently.
"I've got a new customer, a very important customer coming in today to browse what I have made for her and if she wants to fill the rest of the order." She said running a comb through her mane, winching slightly when it pulled on one of the tangles that was inevitable in having a curly mane like her own. "And I still have to put together a few things for her before she shows up." She said. She glanced at the clock and made a small noise that sounded something like a "yeep!"
"Could I help. Maybe keep her busy while you finish up everything, or maybe I co-"
"I wish but from what I read she hates changelings something to do with the siege on Canterlot way back when." She said setting down the brush and looking at herself in the mirror. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a bright flash of light and Kuray was replaced by a short mare with with a an elegant pink mane and a skinny white body. His eyes weren't a glassy green but a crisp sapphire now.
"What about now, love?" He, she asked in a good upper Manehattan accent.
"I totally forgot you could do that." She said setting down the brush.
"I'm a riddle wrapped in an enigma." He said, the accent still standing strong. "Now," he said standing up. "Let's go sell some dresses." He said opening the door for Sweetie Belle and following her out.
It was only a few minutes of waiting in the foyer for Kuray before a tall bright blue Pegasus with a styled mane reeking of seven different kinds of starches and hairspray pushed the door open. She was decked out in a pair of tight fitting jeans and a thin leather jacked studded heavily with rhinestones covering her shirt underneath it.
"I take it you are Misses Glitz?" He asked her, trying to act starstruck.
"I take it you're the help and not the seamstress I came to see." She said poshly with an accent to match Kuray's fake one.
"Yes, Miss Belle will be out in just a few moments. She said she wanted to make herself look as lovely as possible for you." He said forcing a smile. This mare had a terribly arrogant air about herself and Kuray could feel the poisoned pride flowing off of her. It made him almost want to gag, one of the set backs of being a changeling.
"Yes I'm sure, I'm probably one of the most important people to walk through this town, let alone this shop." She said arrogantly. Kuray had to count to ten in his head to keep from shoving this mare's words back down her throat.
"Yes well, I've made tea if you'd like a drink while you wait." He said stepping over to a small table with a simple pot of tea and one cup. She stepped over as Kuray poured her a cup of his own brew. He was never much of a tea drinker it this was a mix of lemon and green tea leaves with a little bit of sugar mixed in to tie it al together that one of his old friends had ought him how to make. He licked up a small spoon and collected a generous size scoop of sugar but before he could she took it in her magic and took a sip of it.
"I've tasted better," she said putting the cup back down. Kuray had to smile through clenched teeth but luckily just as he was weighting the consequences of socking this mare right in the jaw sweetie belle walked into the foyer and Kuray had to keep his changeling sis from busting through his disguise. Sweetie belle was wearing a simple bright blue blouse and a pair of jeans. Simple but more than enough. She didn't want to seem uptight bit she was a seamstress after all. She had to dress up for important customers like this.
"I take it you are miss belle." Glitz said. Sweetie belle opened her mouth to respond but glitc cut her off. "Yes well if we could be on our way I'd like not to have any more of my time wasted." She said buffing one of her hooves against her shirt, not even making eye contact. Sweetie belle wore a confident smile as she led Glitz to where her outfits were on display but Kuray could sense the uncertainty and fear flooding off of her. He mentally crossed his hooves, if this didn't go well it would hurt Sweetie Belle, make her doubt herself.
"And here is the first half of your collection." Sweetie Belle said breaking Kuray out of his thoughts and keeping him from almost rung into Glitz's rump in his absent minded trotting. "Small sleeveless shirts with thin overcoats to keep in line for the current fashion but not to make you uncomfortable in the warmer portion of the year, but of course everything can be alt-"
"I could by jackets like these as well as the sorts from the departments store down the street from my home. Show me something that sets you apart from the others." Glitz said interrupting sweetie belle. Sweetie took another jacket off of a mannequin and held ip up in her magic so Glitz could see it clearly, a smug look on her face.
"As I was saying, all of this is capable of being altered on the fly." She said, no longer the cute semi-shy pony he knew but now a sales mare. "I've enchanted all of my clothing so that with a minor adjustment it can go from warm weather suited to cold weather suited." She said proudly. Glitz didn't smile but she was impressed if her emotions didn't lie. "In this jacket's case just turn the collar up," she said doing so and there was a small hissing noise and the fabric got noticeably thicker; but only if you were looking for a change. "And viola, ready for winter!" She said.
"Impressive," Glitz said doing the same to another jacket and watching it inflate slightly before setting it back on the mannequin. "I must say Miss. Belle, I am quite impressed. Not only with your caliber of talent with creating and designing clothes but also your magical talents. Not many seamstresses posses both talents and even fewer are as good as you are." She said, smiling for the first time that day. "How many bits did you say it was for the complete collection?" Glitz asked eagerly. Sweetie Belle simply smiled and led her off to the side of the room with a table and a few chairs while Kuray headed back upstairs into Sweetie Belle's room. He hadn't slept for a few days and his limbs were heavy with weariness. He walked into her room and fell into the soft plush couch and within minutes he was asleep.
Chapter 3: Terror in the Night
Terror in the Night
Kuray stood in the center of a large courtyard, or maybe it was a park. It was very hard to tell but shrubs and benches and trees dotted the grounds around him. Suddenly, several changelings popped up around him, seemingly materializing out of the air. Instinctively, he drew himself up onto his back legs and brought his forelegs up in a defensive stance intended for grappling with his foes, and they both mirrored him, but rather than having their right hooves close to their chests like he did to protect his core, they were extended and held a large, curved daggers that glinted in the soft moonlight.
"We were your family, your friends. We were all you had Kuray. You were the best in the hive and now you've gone native. You left all of us, and for what? Love, do you really love that white mare?" One of the changelings sneered while they both circled him as a pack of timberwolves would circle an injured deer.
"Her name was Sweetie Belle if I recall correctly." The other said.
"That's obviously a pony name. Soft and pampered like the lot of them!" The first nearly spat out the last few words.
"Why do you hate them so much, without them there would be no us. It's time to stop hiding from all of the ponies and maybe start living alongside them like the Alpha intended for us to all that time ago." Kuray said finally.
"Do you hear him? Saren, do you hear this fool, he wants us to live alongside these ponies." The first scoffed.
"What's next Kuray, you want us to come to their little tea parties. Sorry, but I don't own a skirt!" Saren prodded Kuray in the back with his dagger. Kuray quickly spun around and slammed his hoof into Saren's wrist with staggering force for just a glancing blow sending the blade away and landing at the root of a tree. Saren didn't expect a blow like that, not even from Kuray; but as they had said earlier, he was the best and also the most seasoned fighter among them.
"Impressive, but," Saren paused and the other changeling slammed the pommel of his dagger down on the back of Kuray's skull. He staggered slightly giving the changeling behind him enought time to hand off the dagger to saren and grab him from behind. He wrapped one hoof under the pit of his foreleg and the other around his throat, locking him in place. "You've always got to keep an eye out for what's behind you." Saren said twirling the knife around his hoof, smiling sadistically as Kuray struggled to get out of his assailant's grip. Saren gripped kuray's chin with his magic and held him still and the rest of him stopped thrashing about but his muscles were still tense. "we could have done great things together Kuray, but you threw that chance away." Saren said dragging the sharp point of the blade down Kuray's chin but holding his head in place, "and now I'm going to return the favor." He said, he backed his head away and released Kuray from his magical grasp and he let his head sag. Being held fast in a magical grasp while being colt-handled wasn't much fun and his head was pounding from the blow.
Suddenly an agonizing pain shot out from the center of his chest and outward. He threw his head back and wailed, half in surprise, half in agony. He looked down and locked eyes with Saren holding the handle of the blade that was a third of the way in his chest and his green blood oozing out of the wound and onto saren's hooves Saren himself was smiling crazily as if he enjoyed Kuray's wails.
"I'm not the only one who wants us changelings to finally co-exist with ponies, killing me wont get you anywhere." Kury said breathlessly, the dagger in his chest hurt like nothing he had ever felt before.
"Who said it had anything to do with ponies?" Saren said backing away, Kuray's blood glowed softly on his hooves. "This is about revenge, for my wife, and your sister!" Saren roared suddenly grabbing the handle of the dagger and yanking down, drawing it slowly and agonizingly across Kuray's chest. Kuray screamed in pain.
Suddenly Kuray snapped awake, a oft bed underneath him, but he asn't thinking straight. He clawed at his chest as he scrambled to sitting position. His scar burned more than it had in a long time. Sweetie Belle grabbed hold of his hooves but he was stronger than her and he wasn't thinking clearly and he continued thrashing about.
"Kuray! Kuray stop!" She shouted. His thrashes became slower and more calm. She scooted closer to him and resting her hoof on his cheek. "You're here in Ponyville in the boutique. I'm right here with you, just relax," she cooed. She could see his face in the darkness. His glassy eyes found hers and she could she his jaw relax as he calmed down.
She relaxed more herself and rested her he'd on his chest, bing mindful of his scar. She could hear his heart beating rapidly but gradually slowing down as well as the rate at which he was breathing.
"Sweetie I'm sorry I-" she cut Kuray off by putting a hoof to his lips.
"We'll talk about whatever it was tomorrow morning. For now, you relax." She said calmly but firmly all the same. He sighed and slowly slid back down until he was lying down again. Sweetie belle rolled over and looked into his glassy green eyes as if she was coughs in a trance. Without warning he wrapped his hooves around her neck and embraced her tightly. She wasn't shocked at all and quickly returned the favor.
"Thank you sweetie belle." He said, his voice broke and Sweetie Belle knew something was wrong. He sounded scared, no, terrified of whatever he had dreamed about. She had never seen him like this. He had always been cool, confident, he had always held it together; but if a memory was enough to get him like this, should she be scared as well?
She pushed the thoughts aside and focused on what was going in now, all she had to be happy about. Here she was lying in bed with her colt friend in her hooves; and he had calmed down more now, his breathing is steady and his heart rate is normal. She slid her forelegs down from around his neck to around his rib cage for a more comfortable embrace and he did the same.
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.
The Ponypox
Kuray was lying on his side on the guest bed at the back of the boutique, the covers drawn up to chin despite the heat of the summer outside the window. His eyes were shut tight against the slight bit of light that the curtains didn't catch but it didn't help the headache that made his head feel like it was going to split in two. All and all, he felt miserable.
Sweetie Belle stood in the doorframe staring concerned at her lump of a colt friend under the covers. He coughed loudly and the room was lit up by a brilliant green flash and when it died out it wasn't the changeling she loved but princess Celestia lying in that bed. He coughed again and the same flash lit the room and then it was Rainbowdash, then Dusk, then Soarin before finally stopping on Zecora. He rolled over with a shuddering breath and pushed some of the covers back.
Sweetie Belle moved away from the door and down the hall, she hated to see him like this. She opened up the balcony door and stepped out, though she wasn't alone. Dusk sat in one of the chairs his bloodshot eyes focused on something off in the distance, his shaking forehooves curled around a cup of one room temperature coffee. She sat down in the chair next to him and tried to find what he was looking for.
"It's strange you know." Dusk's voice surprised her. "How something as simple as pony pox could bring down a stallion like Kuray. A simple ailment could bring a stallion that could move mountains to his knees." Sweetie Belle found it hard to believe herself that he had pony pox and not something so much worse. She and Dusk had both had it growing up and the only reason she remembered it was because she got to miss a few days of school. But she knew that if an adult got the pony pox it could really mess them up, like a bad flu; but the worst thing was changelings had a very different immune system than ponies, so a simple ailment to ponies was a plague to changelings. The stars had really aligned to make this as difficult as possible for Kuray.
"I'm sorry you know," Dusk said after a few moments of silence.
"What for?" Sweetie belle replied turning her gaze to him. He looked terrible, his normally shining black coat that she remembered from school was dull and his mane was a mess, but his face was the worst. His eyes were bloodshot and sunken, his snout crooked from being broken in a bar fight and his teeth were slightly yellowed.
"For dropping out of school, for being a drunk, for fighting needlessly, for letting go of everything," he paused gulped. "For not being there," he finished.
"I don't understand." Sweetie belle said. She had hardly heard him talk since Kuray had brought him home and now he was being thoughtful which was strange.
"Kuray helped me out a number of times to keep me out of the ditch and on the good path. Hearing that he was gone, probably even dead hurt me, broke me in ways I couldn't imagine. I don't want to think about how terrible that must have been for you. I was the closest friend Kuray had next to you. We should have been there for each other."
"That was a two way street Dusk. I was hurting to much to even think about anypony else. I should have found you, but it was all too much for me. You don't need to apologize to me." Sweetie Belle said. She took his hoof in her own and he smiled for the first time in a while.
"Good to see you two are getting along." A raspy voice said behind them. Sweetie Belle shot up out of her chair at the voice. Kuray stood in the doorway, his mouth parted in a weak smile.
"Kuray what are you doing out of bed you're sick as a dog!" Sweetie Belle shouted. Dusk flattened his ears and took a sip of his cold coffee which he promptly spat over the balcony with a discontent groan.
"It's nice to have some fresh air, you two are also where all the emotions are, I'm on a bit of a leash currently." He said jokingly, though nothing about Sweetie Belle said joking right now. She noted how he was braced against the door frame for support.
"He's bored out of his mind." Dusk added into the conversation.
"Celestia save me being cooped up in that small room is driving me mad." Kuray exclaimed.
"We all have to put up with a little boredom from time to time, now back to your room." Sweetie Belle ordered.
"No," Kuray issued the challenge, doing his best to sound confident. Sweetie belle squared her jaw, her eyes making him very uncomfortable. "I'll see you later Dusk I'm gonna go lie back down." Kuray said backing out of the doorway. Sweetie Belle's face changed to a happy smile.
"Rest well dear," She said happily all of the sudden.
"Wa-pish," dusk said imitating the sound of a whip, still in his chair. "Where'd you learn that trick?"
"Fluttershy taught me," she replied.
Kuray plodded back to his room, every muscle screaming at him that the floor he was standing on was a perfectly okay place to fall asleep. He hated being sick, how his body revolted against him. He hated the feeling of weariness, the sleep tugging at his bones and the ache parlay sing his muscles and the fever sucking the warmth from his shell leaving him shivering even under several quilts. The only good thing he saw from being sick was once you recovered you came back stronger, better and the exhilarating rush of energy and adrenaline that came with it; but until then he was a skeleton.
He dragged himself into his room, surprised he had made it that far; and then he tripped over his own hooves and fell ungracefully onto the soft carpet with a soft thud. His green mane fell in his eyes, blinding him but he didn't care. "Close enough," he mumble before letting sleep take him again.
Chapter Six: Basically Anatomy
Basically Anatomy
Sweetie belle looked at herself in the mirror as she brushed the last of the tangles out of her mane, meanwhile Kuray lay on the bead still, his hooves splayed out around him as well as he mouth hanging open and his tongue hanging out. 'I swear sometimes he acts like such a colt.' Sweetie Belle thought to herself. She picked up the wet fowl she had used after her bath and trotted over to him. She curled it up and snapped him with it once on the flank and he shot up into sitting position; his glassy eyes narrowed against the sun pouring through the window as he searched for his assailant. It didn't turn out to be much of a search though since Sweetie Nelle stood next to him snickering with a wet town in her hands.
"Real funny, I was in the middle of a nice dream." He said lying back down and rolling back over onto his side with his back to her.
"If you tell me what it was about I'll let you go back to sleep." She said.
"You're lying," he grumbled.
"Yeah," she said making her way to the door. "Meet me in the kitchen," she said stepping out of the door. Kuray sighed and closed his eyes again but not for long until the wet town was flung as a ball and hit him in the nose. "But take a bath first, you stink."
"Love you too," Kuray grumbled to himself as he rolled out of the bed.
About fifteen minutes later Kuray stumbled into the kitchen just as sweetie belle finished up the last of the pancakes and plopped them down on the table along with two cups of coffee.
"Morning sleepy wings," Sweetie Belle said cheerily and throwing a damp dish towel at Kuray who let it slide off his face and to the floor with a wet smack.
"How do you do it?" Kuray asked, his glassy eyes were only half open. He was clearly half awake.
"For one I didn't stay up until four in the morning reading the history of the griffons." Sweetie belle said jokingly.
"Ghastly beast warriors," Kuray interjected dropping down into his chair and taking a sip of coffee.
"But other than that, I've always like mornings: the birdsong, the flowers and buds unfurling, the feeling of waking up early and getting stuff done." Sweetie Belle said happily.
"But the night's so much more welcoming: the moon shining in through the window, a nice fire in the pit, the lull of the cricket chirps and the cool outside air." Kuray replied.
"Sweet Celestia you two are talking like authors." Dusk said trotting into the kitchen. He had come a long way from a month ago with his alcoholism. His hooves no longer shook and he claimed he no longer craved it but Kuray had noticed him looking up at the fine wine in the cabinets; but he hadn't drank a single drop since he had come home with Kuray.
"Very funny Dusk, you and I both know I don't have the patience to be an author." Kuray said sipping his coffee.
"Speaking of stuff you don't have the patience for, I have work for you to do today." Sweetie belle said smiling while Dusk snickered and Kuray just sighed. "I have a new order of mannequins coming in today. They come in one big box of five. I need you to carry that box in and assemble them."
"Okay fine, under two conditions. One, he helps me put them together." Kuray said giving Dusk, who he noted was no longer smiling, a sly look. "And I get to keep one of the mannequins." Kuray said.
"What the hell do you want with a mannequin?" Dusk asked setting down his coffee.
"I have my reasons."
"Well, vagueness aside, you can keep one for whatever purpose you want it for." Sweetie Belle said. She perked her ears up at a whooshing sound. "Sounds like they're here." Sweetie belle said. Kuray stood up from the table and walked to the front of the house and out of the door; he was still kind of dragging his hooves but the coffee would kick in soon, hopefully.
"Mrs. Belle?" The wiry built unicorn said looking down at Kuray. Changelings weren't generally remarked for their size.
"Haha, real funny plot plug, I'm her colt friend."
"Honest mistake, all you changelings look the same to me." The unicorn said smugly dropping the package onto the ground. There was a bright blast in front of the unicorn and it was like looking in a mirror.
"How do I look now?" Kuray snarled. The unicorn gulped nervously and disappeared. Kuray scoffed and turned back to normal. He tried to pick up the package but it wouldn't budge. He pressed his shoulder against it and drove with his legs but only managed to trample the sod. He cursed under his breath. He hated using his magic, it made him exhausted and it was very unreliable. Changelings weren't built to use magic; not in anything but short bursts, combat magic. He expelled the adverse thoughts from his head and closed his eyes to concentrate. His horn lit up green and so did the box. He gritted his teeth and willed it forward into the house.
Sweetie Belle was upstairs working on a new enchantment for suits to make them absolutely waterproof when she heard a loud thud from downstairs followed by a slight tremor in the ground. "Kuray?" She called out the door. After a moment of no answer her horn lit up and with a flash she was downstairs standing next to a large brown cardboard box bound with clear tape and a snoring changeling sprawled out on the floor. She conjured up a glass of ice water and tipped it on Kuray's head and his eyes flew open.
"On your hooves soldier." Sweetie Belle said hauling him to his hooves. "The hard part's over."
"Right sorry," he said yawning. He walked over to the box and pulled at one of the flaps but it wouldn't give. He tried it again but it stayed put when a pair of scissors floated into the side of his vision. "Right," he said again taking the scissors and cut the tape. Sweetie Belle chuckled to herself as she walked away.
"He's so silly sometimes." She said to herself as she climbed back up the stairs.
"How is it that you've already put together two of these things and you're still having trouble figuring out how they go together?" Dusk asked sitting on the plush couch watching and critiquing his work.
"Okay then Mr. Handyhooves-" Kuray began angrily.
"Hey, only the mares can call me that." Dusk said and the two of them erupted in laughter.
"Dang, sober you is so much better." Kuray said wiping a tear from his eye.
"Yeah about that, I wanted to talk to you." Dusk said.
"Sure, what's up?" Kuray said putting a leg down and standing up next to his friend who was a few inches taller than him.
"You remember that club you found me in and the dancers that were there?" Dusk asked nervously.
"Yeah, what about them?"
"Well, in my time there I got to know a few of them along with the bartenders, good ponies with families but all of them were down on their luck. They had run into debt and were looking for a way to earn some money and pay them off and go on with their lives." Dusk paused. "But the boss of the place, Blue Fire, makes each of them sign a contract before they get their first month's pay binding them to the establishment."
"So what, they can't quit?" Kuray asked.
"Exactly and after the first month of working there their pay drops to hardly anything, one or two bits a month; and since they can't quit they end up even worse than when they started." Dusk explained to Kuray who's eyes lit up in understanding.
"And what, you want me to 'convince' the boss to let these ponies go?" Kuray asked dubiously.
"Precisely, that or find a way to destroy the contracts." Dusk said.
"And what makes you think I could, or would, do this for a bunch of ponies who I've never met?"
"Because your a a good stallion." Dusk said simply.
"So why don't you do it, they're your friends?" Kuray asked, doing his best to find a way out of this, he only saw it causing trouble for him in the future.
"Exactly, the boss knows me by name, he knows my face and so do a lot of the security, I'd never get to the contracts; but you're a changeling, to the untrained eye you look like a lot of other changelings as well as you could be anypony, the boss even." Dusk said, he had obviously thought this over for a while.
Kuray thought this over for a moment before sighing heavily. "Alright I'll do it, but don't get used to it. I don't want to hurt ponies anymore." Kuray said.
"Thank you." Was all dusk could say. Kuray walked past him out the door.
"You're finishing that mannequin though, Handyhooves." Kuray said with a chuckle as he walked out the door. Dusk sighed contently as he say down and finished putting together the mannequin in a few minutes, just as Sweetie Belle came down stairs.
"Hey Dusk, where's Kuray, I wanted to tell him something." Sweetie Belle said happily.
"Uh yeah, I have something to tell you." Dusk said nervously, standing up.
"What's he doing?" She asked, the happiness disappearing from her voice and her face.
"He's doing what he does best, helping ponies." Dusk replied.
In the Act
Kuray waited quietly outside the alleyway until the last traces of light petered out over the horizon before falling in with a few other low lives that were going where he was. They walked just in front of him towards the small discreet building, a dull hunger in their eyes; but Kuray, as strange as it was being a changeling, was probably one of the least strange ponies to walk through the door. The only difference was that rather than making a beeping for the bar or one of the platforms he made his way to the bathroom.
He shouldered open the door and picked the stall farthest from it, doing his best to ignore the stallion screaming his throat out from whatever horrors his drugged mind had conjured up. Kuray locked the door and in a bright green flash transformed into the owner of the establishment. He unlocked the door and almost made it to the door before he heard a whoosh behind him and somepony grabbed his mane and he disappeared leaving the stallion alone in the stall screaming something about bees.
"A strip club, you were in a strip club!" Sweetie Elle explained pacing the floor in front of the couch where Kuray and Dusk sat.
"I told you, I was there to help somepony, not watch some mares be whores for bits." Kuray replied aggravated. Sweetie Belle looked at him obviously unconvinced. "Why don't you believe me?" He said standing up.
"Because no one goes into that place for anything but drugs or cheep sex." She shot back, they both locked gazes clearly furious with each other. They stayed that way, arguing silently before Sweetie Belle broke his gaze and stormed upstairs and Kuray out the front door leaving Dusk on the couch alone.
"To be fair, the beer is good to, not just the drugs." He said standing up and walking to the kitchen for an apple before heading back up to his room; but as he reached the landing of the stairs he stopped in his tracks. He perked his ears up and listened closely and his heart sank from inside Sweetie Belle's room he heard her sobbing.
He gently nosed open the door, taking care not to let it creak as he did so. Sweetie belle lay with her head on her pillow and her back to hime. The covers on her bed were balled up around her. She was shivering from crying. Dusk took great care not to let the wooden boards creek under his hooves and was almost at the foot of the bed when the flooring betrayed him. Sweetie Belle's crying immediately stopped and her head whipped around to face him.
Her eyes were red and swollen and narrowed when her gaze locked with his. "What do you want?" She asked him, her voice was hoarse and harsh.
"Listen, I didn't meant for you two to get upset with eachother. There really are ponies there that need help."
"Why couldn't you have found somepony else to do it, why did it have to be Kuray. And why couldn't you have told me before hoof." She paused to take a shaky breath. "I never should have said those things to him."
"Kuray is the only hard core special ops pony that I know. I knew that if I wanted that job to get done that I'd have to trust him to take care of it for me." She opened her mouth to shoot back an angry retort but closed her mouth and let her head fall back onto the pillow. He took another step toward her but she lifted a feeble hoof, "just please, go." She said. Dusk wanted to comfort her, apologize better but he knew whatever he had to say wouldn't make her feel better. He simply nodded and left the room.
A good few hours later sweetie belle was sitting in the den her eyes felt dry and her body sluggish. She sat curled up on the couch with a blanket over her shoulders. There was a small knock at the door,and her heart immediately soared. She threw the blanket off her shoulders and hurried to the door. She turned the lock and pulled it open. Sometimes, it's nice to be right.
Before her on the doorstep was Kuray, looking as handsome as any pony ever had. He was wearing the same grey suit he wore the day he came back(how he got that out of the closet without her knowing she had no idea) with a single white rose in his mouth and a small heart shaped box. His small half way smile and big green eyes locked with hers and she lunged at him and wrapped her fore legs around his neck. He said something that was muffled by the heart shape box in his mouth. "I can't understand a word you're saying." She said smiling.
He let the box fall from his mouth before he spoke. "But wait, there's more." He said cheerily as he stepped away from her and several unicorns in in bright white shirts and khaki slacks walked past her and into the house followed by several silver trays and a small cardboard box. Sweetie Belle looked at him confused but he just beamed back at her and led her inside and to the dining room.
The room she had always used as storage had never looked this good. All the boxes and materials had been taken off and stacked neatly in the small closet at the back of the room leaving only a small table in its center. One of the unicorns spread a pristine white table cloth across it while another placed several small candles and plates. Two more unicorns walked in from the kitchen with large silver trays suspended in the air by their magic and they sat them down in the center of the table while the final unicorn lit the candles. After all of this they all stepped back from the table and watched as Kuray pulled out sweetie belle's chair like a true gentle colt before going over to them and whispering in the ear of the one in the middle. He nodded and turned to walk out flanked by the rest of the squad of unicorns while Kuray turned his attention to her.
"What's all this?" She asked, her cheeks glowed with rouge.
"My way of saying sorry for earlier." He replied sitting down across from her though the table wasn't very big.
"But all this isn't really necessary for me." A wide beautiful smile adorned her face.
"For you, everything is necessary." He said as he rand his hoof along her cheek.
Warm and Cozy on Christmas Eve
Kuray lay dazing on the couch next to the fireplace. The orange and red flames blazed cheerily as they fought of the cold air outside. A book lay in front of him to show clearly he had fallen asleep reading which had quickly become one of his favorite past times. He stirred slightly from his sleep and rolled over in the couch, nocking the book off onto the floor and exposing his soft underbelly, the only part of him that wasn't covered completely in his shell.
Sweetie Belle watched him from the kitchen as the milk for the hot chocolate finished warming up. She always though he was a very handsome, dashing changeling. Nothing like the sneaky and deceptive creatures that she read about in the books she borrowed from the library or read about in the news; but it was when he slept that she though he was at his most adorable. In his waking hours he was always watchful, his eyes narrowed for threats and his brow(changelings have brows which surprised her) furrowed in deep thought. If he didn't look neutral he was scowling at something without knowing it. It was just the way he was.But whenever he slept he adopted a restful, almost serene, smile as if he was dreaming of heaven.
The sound of bubbles behind her pulled he out of her thought of her colt friend and back to the present and what was going on around her. She turned around and threw in the chocolate for the cocoa and let is sit for a moment before stirring it and pouring it into two mugs and turning off the flame. She turned and walked out of the kitchen, two mugs in tow with her magic, out into the living room.
"Hey sleepy hooves," she said picking up a pillow with her magic and dropping it down onto his head. He snorted quietly and picked the pillow up off his head and replaced it where it belonged without even opening his eyes and went back to dozing. "Fine have it your way," she said placing plopping down right into his belly. He sat up quickly with a loud cough. Sweetie Belle chuckled softly and kissed the tip of his snout. "Merry Christmas," she said jokingly handing him a mug and letting him sit up so she could sit on the couch rather then him.
"Not quite yet Sweetie, but I don't think it's too early for this." He said producing a small package wrapped shabbily in brown paper.
"It can wait, you're present enough for me." She said resting her head on his shoulder.
"Oh c'mon, it's not gonna hurt to open it a little early." He said smiling warmly at her.
"Alright, if you insist." She said smiling back at him as she sat down her mug on the coffee table and took the parcel from him. She carefully undid the paper so as to keep it in ken piece and underneath was a small black velvet box with a hinge on the back. She gasped as she opened it to see a small crystal ball with a shimmering white liquid inside supported by an elegant golden chain. She gasped slightly and took the necklace from the box.
"Oh sweet Celestia, is that-"
"Essence of a fallen star, yes." He interrupted her. She threw her forehooves around his neck and drew him close.
"But it's super rare, how did you manage to afford it? Only the highest unicorn scholars have essence of the star." She asked exasperated.
"You know why I've been tired so much lately?" He asked, she pulled away and nodded, though her hooves still on his muscular shoulders. "I've actually been sneaking out for the past few months and giving ponies martial arts lessons." I only managed to scrape together enough money to get you that, but I think it's worth it." He said smiling back at her. She couldn't say anything but "thank you." As she slid the chain around her neck and as soon as the crystal touched her chest she felt her senses sharpen and her mind become more focused. She focused on the mug and it changed from a simple coffee mug to a fancy crystal chalice and back on her command.
"Mine isn't anything like as good as this, but I hope it will do." She said summoning an even smaller parcel wrapped carefully in wrapping paper decorated with mistletoe and sleigh bells. Kuray. He tore the end of the wrapping paper off the end and pulled out a small, tattered, and brown glasses case. He popped it open and produced a pair of horn rimmed glasses.
"Well this is, sweet," Kuray said clearly pushed. He had never thought he needed glasses.
"Put them on." She said excitedly. He shrugged and slid them over his ears and onto his nose and the room immediately brightened from the dim firelight to a constant glow like the sun was up though it was clearly nighttime outside. Next the glasses gave a small creak and suddenly everything popped into better focus. Colors were sharper, letters more defined.
"That's, wicked!" He exclaimed looking around the room before his eyes came to settle on her. "This is wonderful thank you." He said resting his hooves on her hips. They came towards eachother and their lips met in the middle. The bliss of that kiss was interrupted by the chiming of the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. The strikes of the bell counted twelve before going quite again.
"Merry Christmas, sweetie." He said. She just grinned at him. Her eyes twinkled happily. She shifted from the couch cushion to his lap and he wrapped his forehooves around her and held her close.
"I love you Kuray." She said serenely.
"I love you too." He replied. And until they fell asleep in earth others embrace they stared into the fire as it burned down to embers, the silence occasionally broken by a brief kiss or a giggle as Kuray poked sweetie belle with his hoof every so often.
And though there wasn't much in the way of festivities, no feasting, parties, or anything of the sort but it was the best Christmas ever compared to any of which either of them had ever had. Two lovers with nothing but each others company, there isn't anything that can top that.
Bombshells
Like the snow and ice of December, the cheer hadn't left just yet either. The harsh drafts from the north were nothing compared to the close togetherness that each and every pony felt this time of year. Though Christmas had come and gone, ordinary everyday life hadn't quite resumed yet because a new holiday was fast approaching; New Years Day.
It was a relatively new holiday because of Princess Twilight, it was her idea from the beginning. She saw it symbolically as a chance for a new start like with her friend Discord. The idea had immediately caught on and now it was an empire wide holiday.
Kuray enjoyed it most of all. He had had a rough time since he had left and lived detached from the world. He hadn't even known this holiday existed until Sweetie Belle explained it to him. He loved the idea of a fresh start. After all of the, exterminating he did he felt like he could use one.
Sweetie Belle on the other hand could not possibly have changed less in the time he was gone. She had always been responsible and hardworking as she was now. Right now she worked to finish cooking up dinner as the sun was currently setting over the horizon and Kuray was to be home any minute now with Dusk from the train station. She was just setting the last of the table when Dusk walked in followed by Kuray who was encumbered with a set of saddle bags that kept slipping down around his neck.
She couldn't help but notice the difference in Dusk. A mere few weeks away in Manehattan and he had seemed to grow not only a few inches taller but outward in the shoulders. He carried himself taller and had developed an air of confidence around himself. He was easily a head taller than Kuray now but nothing like as muscular though he has gained some of that himself.
"The stallion, the myth, the legend returns," Kuray said draping the bags over a sturdy wooden chair in the corner of the room. Dusk chuckled slightly and smiled and Sweetie Belle.
"A few weeks away from Ponyville and I already feel like I've left my home,and this isn't even my house." He said looking around the dining room as if taking it in for the first time.
"We missed you too Dusk," sweetie Belle said walking next to Kuray who folded his wing over his back and drew her close.
"It's like you're the long lost brother I never had." Kuray added.
"Aren't you all technically brothers and sisters in the hive?" Dusk replied.
"It's a compliment, just accept it." Kuray finished. They all laughed before Dusk's stomach rumbled slightly to which Sweetie Belle announced "let's eat!"
And eat they did. Sweetie Belle had truly outdone herself,cit was amazing all the things she had managed to do with potatoes and hay. It was looking like a fine evening up until they were all ready to go to bed.
"Rely though, I think it's time I hit the hay, it's a long train ride from Manehattan." Dusk said standing up and arching his back as though he were a cat and popped it several times before yawning contently and beginning to make his way up the stairs. "Oh right, my bag." He said quietly bit somehow Kuray heard him and stood up from the couch where he and sweetie belle had been talking quietly.
"I gotcha," Kuray said walking over to the small beige duffel bag that was still next to one of the chairs at the table. Kuray took the strap in his teach and heaved it up over his head but not more than a second later the bag tore open spilling what it contained onto the floor. It had waiting it some basic necessities like a tooth brush and other toiletries but also a dark blue coat that resembled a suit jacket folded up nicely with a pair of matching blue trousers and a light grey shirt.
Kuray picked up the jacket and held it infront of himself with his wings. Dusk stared at him from across the room his mouth shut and sweetie belle with her mouth agape had stood up from the couch. "Dusk where did you get this?" Kuray said softly.
"I swear Kuray It's not-"
"Dusk, what have you done?" Kuray said dropping the uniform to the ground and crossing the room to his friend.
"I've found my new beginning, my fresh start." Dusk replied somberly not dropping Kuray's gaze.
"But why this, why did this have to be your new beginning?" Kuray asked softer yet.
"What does it matter what I choose to do! I'm my own Pegasus and I can join the army if is so please!" Dusk exploded.
"Why does it matter?" Kuray shot back. His horn lit up and a magazine flew across the sitting room from the coffee table so it was floating right next to the two of them. "This is why it matters!" The headline read 'Changelings Executed: Three changelings accused of high treason and a plot to overthrow the princesses have been executed by the captain of the royal guard, Steel Wing.'
"Maybe some changelings need to be put down, isn't that what you were doing? You hunted down your entire hive." Dusk said narrowing his eyes at Kuray.
"My hive was the most war inclined hive to exist, why do you think I left, why do you think I did what I did. All the others were prepared to accept a peace and begin living amongst ponies." Kuray said angrily.
"What if you're wrong, what if the changelings aren't as domesticated as you think? What if you're not as domesticated as you think?" Dusk snarled. Kuray threw his shoulders back and crouched low to the ground prepared to spring but Sweetie Belle stalked up to Dusk and next to her colt friend.
"How dare you talk to him as if he was a common dog, as if all of the changelings were common dogs." She said coldly. Dusk seemed taken aback by herald Kuray lowered his guard. "You were a dirty lowlife drunk and my husband dragged you back here and sobered you up and you repay him by coming here and insulting him after putting him in danger." Dusk stood at the foot of the stairs his wings on the ground and his ears drooping. He opened his mouth to speak but Sweetie Belle spoke before he could. "Leave, now." She said coldly. This brought dusk back to his senses and he silently shoved between the two of them and picked up his bag and his coat and walked out the door, slamming it behind him.
"So I'm your husband now am I?" Kuray said breaking the silence that had settled over the two of them. She turned to him, her eyes soft and the anger gone.
"You know what I mean," she said softly. "And no one gets to talk to my colt friend like that." She said kissing him softly. Kuray would have been angry with Dusk at the moment but currently thoughts of his marefriend were the only ones that were on his head.
Silent Night
Kuray and Sweetie Belle were seated quietly in a nice little restaurant, their groceries had been deposited back at home before they had come to the establishment. Kuray's blood hadn't yet stopped boiling from the fight earlier that day. To think someone had the nerve to try and kidnap his marefriend, or whatever they were planning to do with her. Whatever it was, Kuray had enjoyed the fight, but he had walked away not feeling weighed down by guilt like he had for so many years; for the first time in a long time he had walked away not having killed anyone. He had left a trail of bodies, both changeling and pony in his wake since he set out in his quest and it hurt him so much without him knowing it.
There were some cultures that Kuray had read about that believed that whenever one being killed another being it split the killer's soul in half, and again, and again, slowly eating away and fragmenting the being until they became a hollow shell of what they formerly were. If that were true then Kuray's must be in thousands of pieces, yet he still felt alive inside. If Kuray had the statement from some scientist that had two PhD's in fields he couldn't even hope to pronounce but Kuray had found something that they hadn't; he had found that when you have someone you love to fight for that you stay in one piece, you stay whole.
Sweetie Belle on the other hand did her best to seem calm and collected but she was terrified on the inside, but on the inside she was terrified. She loved Kuray with all of her heart and all of her soul but she sometimes forgot the danger of being so intimate with a changeling a world so racist against them.some being so driven as to hurt those close to them. On the other other hoof, she was also quite relieved to see that Kuray seemed more at peace with himself that he had the day before, or even for the past few weeks. She also knew that these racists and radicals could do nothing to truly hurt her because she knew that Kuray was on their tail and that he would do anything for her, But for now they sat aside their misgivings about the day's events and sat down to a nice dinner.
"I'm not gonna lie, a restaurant that charges that much for a sandwich should have a bigger sandwich." Kuray said walking out of the restaurant with Sweetie Belle at his side.
"What are you talking about, that sandwich was massive!" Sweetie belle said chuckling.
"Massive, pfft, maybe for a breezie but I'm a grown changeling, I need my food." He said.
"A grown changeling? I'm taller than you are, and I've always been petite." She said joking.
"You are not taller than me." Kuray said flustered.
"Am to." She said straightening her neck to get the extra inch over him.
"Okay maybe you're a little bit taller but I'm definitely better with ponies." He said joking. They both laughed and he drew her close with his wing and they walked in silence the rest of the way, just enjoying eachother's company.
Sweetie Belle's eyes opened slowly as she woke to the sound of birdsong outside the window. Her heat leapt immediately as she realized what day it was and she carefully untangled herself from Kuray who's for hooves were wrapped around her stomach. He stirred slightly and reached out toward her,chips eyes still closed but she slid a pillow into his forehooves and kissed his cheek. He smiled blissfully in he sleep and gently hugged the pillow as sweetie belle crept out of the room and down the stairs.
Not Dangerous
That evening Kuray lay in bed and despite the thick blankets and the merry fire burning in the heater downstairs as well as his marefriend clinging tightly to him to stay warm herself, he shivered. Though his chills weren't from the cold but from the harsh words that him and Dusk had exchanged just hours ago. Kuray had been in just about as many verbal arguments as he had physical and he had hardly ever walked away feeling this conflicted. Dusk was his friend, his best friend next to Sweetie Belle and he had said that changelings, even Kuray himself, should be leashed, thrown into dungeons or cast out like common thieves or animals.
But however hanged Kuray got he couldn't help but see some merit to Dusk's way of thinking. What if he was wrong, what if the changelings were like wind animals. Peace can only last for so long between to races that have always been at eachother's throats.
"I can hear those gears of yours turning," sweetie belle said suddenly, her sweet voice cutting through the silence. She picked her head up off Kuray's chest and rested it on the pillow next to his. "What's on your mind love?"
"It's just," Kuray paused to gather his thoughts, "I can't help but wonder if dusk may have been right about the changelings. What if we are like a bunch of wild dogs and the only way to keep ponies safe is to put us down?" He said softly. Sweetie belle lay silent for a moment, thinking over her response carefully.
"If what you've told me is true about the other changeling hives being docile and peace loving then I don't think ponies have anything to worry about," she cooed.
"And another thing, what Dusk said about me being dangerous,"
"Dusk was angry and confused. He just wanted to hurt you and he wasn't thinking about what he was saying." She said cutting him off.
"Sweetie Belle, I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of: I've killed, I've maimed, and I've lied. In a way I'm just like the rest of my hive." He said turning his head to look at her. She could see the fear in his eyes.
"None of that matters now, it's New Year's Day and the start of your new beginning. I don't care what all you've done, I only care about what you will do. I love you, changeling or whatever, I love you. If anything I feel safer with my big, strong colt friend around." She added. He chuckled softly and wrapped his hooves around her. He kissed her once softly before going to sleep.
His sleep was fitful that night and it seemed that the sun would never rise and even afterwards it took Sweetie Belle another hour until she stirred. She woke with a stretch and a cute little yawn. She kissed his cheek softly before getting up and walking into the bathroom. Kuray himself sat up slowly, the joints in his back popping loudly. He rubbed his eyes to wake himself up but it did nothing for him. He sighed and slung his hooves over the side of the bed and walked out of the room and down the stairs.
In the kitchen he busied himself making breakfast and had it all cooked before sweetie belle came downstairs, her mane was tied up in a towel. They ate breakfast in silence while sweetie belle stared at him, easily seeing through his easily noticeable drowsiness. It wasn't until he stood up to put away the dishes and managed to stab himself with a fork did she say anything.
"Did you get any good sleep last night?" She asked softly taking a look at his hoof which was bleeding slightly, four small dots of changeling blood welled up on his hoof. She dabbed it softly with a napkin.
"No, I didn't. I can't get what Dusk said out if my head." He said.
"Screw Dusk, he was angry and he said things he didn't mean." She said setting down the napkin and looking back up at him. "You are not dangerous." She said surely. Kuray smiled weakly, a smile which she returned. She stood up and stretched again and Kuray did the same. "I've got to go to the store market because we ate all of the good food last night, and you're coming with me. Fresh air will do you good." She said tapping his nose with her hoof, shrugged and put on his coat in the den as sweetie belle walked past him up the stairs. "Be down in a minute," she called after herself.
It was a full twenty minutes before she returned with a pair of saddle bags around her. "Five minutes?" Kuray asked tapping his hoof.
"You know how mares are," she said walking by him, flicking her tail at his nose when she passed. She pushed through the door and Kuray sighed and followed her out the door.
The market was slightly overwhelming. It wasn't like Kuray hadn't been around this many ponies in his time being back, but he had always been disguised; but now he was walking in full view of everypony else. He felt their scrutinizing he's boring into the back of his head. Normally he wouldn't have cared that other ponies saw him but he wasn't feeling, or thinking like himself today. He burrowed deeper into the collar of his jacket as,if trying to hide from view.
Sweetie belle on the other hand could not be more above it. She walked with her head held high challenging any pony who dared to meet her eyes. It was this that caused the crowd to go back to chattering and haggling with eachother and stop staring at Kuray, which he was very grateful for.
Kuray walked alongside sweetie belle through the market, doing his best to not be noticed. Sitting in the shadows when sweetie belle stopped the pick something up or haggle with a merchant. He had to admit, she had some talent at getting ether prices; but he kept his thoughts to himself. He didn't say much through the entire trip until sweetie belle noticed the time.
"Horse apples!" She exclaimed causing Kuray to snap out of his daze. "The market is about to close and I still need to go my two stalls, on opposite ends of the market." She said checking the time again and sighing. "Kuray I need you to to go to the east side of the market, find a stall named silver lining, and ask for the parcel for Sweetie." She said quickly.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Kuray asked looking around at the crowd.
"Yes, you'll be fine, I'll meet you back here soon." She said and without another word she turned around and galloped into the crowd opposite him. Kuray opens his mouth to call after but the clock in the center of Ponyville chiming six o'clock and he knew he had to hurry. He turned to gallop the other direction as she had and his heart sank to see a very thick crowd of ponies surging away from where he was trying to go. He knew that he couldn't fight his way through that, and then he had an idea. He spread his wings, sent up a quick prayer to Faust above, and took to the sky.
He was honestly surprised that he managed to get off the ground on his first try. He had never had any formal training in flying and hadn't practiced for a long time. He gat roughly ten feet off the ground before he started propelling himself forward.
He laughed in surprise as he found himself over the stall that was indicated it was the one sweetie was talking about and he was still in one piece. He tried to defend slowly and ended up slamming himself into the ground at a slightly slower velocity right in front of the stall making the scrawny smith jump in surprise. The owner of the stall was a small earth stallion not much taller than Kuray, he had an alabaster white coat and a very short mane that was singed at the ends. His white coat was flecked with several angry looking burn scars, some fresher than others and his steely grey eyes told Kuray he was no stranger to pain.
"What do you need sir." He said with a polite sincerity which kind of took Kuray aback since he e pecked a harsh rough voice from the scrawny pony.
"Uh yes, hi. I'm here to pick up a package for my marefriend, Sweetie Belle." Kuray said and the stallion's eyes widened.
"So you're the Kuray I've been hearing so much about." He said walking around the counter and taking kuray's hoof in his own and shaking it. "You really are lucky to have her as your marefriend." He said. He motioned with his hoof for Kuray to follow him into his tent as he turned to walk away.
Inside there were silver wares stacked on top of cardboard boxes, cups, plates, swords, knives, and things of which Kuray had never seen before. The smith picked up a long and narrow package and hoofed it to Kuray.
"Give sweetie belle my regards, oh and remind her that last minute engraving isn't easy." He said chuckling.
"Uh thanks, what is it?" Kuray asked.
"That's for sweetie to tell you, speaking of which I have a family of my own to get home to so if you wouldn't mind." The smith said, somehow maintaining his polite tone. Kuray nodded and stepped out if the tent.
Now that the streets were pretty much clear it was much easier for Kuray to move without flying. He galloped down the street, the parcel on his back and it wasn't more than a few minutes this time before he came back to the square.
Kuray felt the panicked yelp of another pony before he heard it, the sudden change from tranquility to fear jolted his senses. He set down the package underneath a bush and walked softly around the corner where he heard frantic whispering. He poked his heard around the corner into the alleyway and his blood turned to ice. Sweetie belle's unconscious body was propped up against the brick wall while two ponies, one with a muted orange coat and a slightly brighter mane and the other with a very dark shade of blue and a close cut steely grey mane, both of them had their backs to him as they whispered, and upon seeing this something inside of Kuray clicked and he pulled himself up onto his hind hooves and walked out from behind the corner.
"Hey!" Kuray shouted down the alleyway making both stallions jump at his voice.
"Oh just a changeling, buzz off little one the grownups are talking." The Orange one said arrogantly.
"Honestly, I'm getting real tired of the racism in this town," Kuray said doing his best to keep the anger out of his voice or even look at sweetie belle, but he noticed her eyes flutter a bit at the sound of his voice.
"Oh really, and what's the big strong horsefly gonna do about it?" The Orange one said taking a step towards Kuray who was edging towards them slowly and now was only five feet away.
"I'm gonna feed you both your teeth." Kuray said happily as they both stood on their hind legs as well. Before they could make the first move hurry pulled off his leather coat and threw it in the grey ones face before seizing the Orange one and throwing him face first into the brick wall before turning around and dragging the grey one to the floor but the cost he was struggling with and punching him twice in the nose before the Orange one stood back up and grabbed him from behind. He was bigger and Kuray struggled to break free as the grey one got to his feet. Kuray felt his head clouding as the oxygen was cut off and he knew he had to work quick. Kuray clenched his teeth and flipped the Orange one over his shoulder breaking the hold and slamming him on the ground. Kuray delivered a quick but decisive blow to his throat before lunging at the grey one. Kuray caught him by his short mane and forced his face into the dirt. Kuray then placed his hoof on his shoulder and grabbed the forehoove with the other and pulled up, dislocating the shoulder. The grey one howled in pain and Kuray stood up, knowing his job was done.
Kuray turned to his marefriend who was now awake and smiling. "You seem happy." He said somewhat loudly over the grey ones yelps of pain.
"I'm just thinking about what I said last night." She said as she stood up and walked over to him. "You're not dangerous," she said softly as she brush some of him mane out of his eyes. "You're my protector." She said kissing his cheek. "Also, you kicking the hay out of stallions for me is kind of hot." She said slyly and winked at him. "Now hurry up, I'm starving!" She said walking past him.
