Unexpected Friendship

It was 18:34. Striped Fist was leaning in his armchair, his legs being placed on top of the small table infront of him, and was watching the TV. The male zebra let out a small sigh of pleasure as he closed his eyes for a moment and thought about his recent achievement.

"You finally did it, Striped, you clever bastard! You managed to become friends with a hot babe without the need of doing her," he praised himself. Striped then reached for the bottle with whiskey and filled his glass once more. "You are getting better and better."

But just as he was about to take a sip from it, the zebra heard the doorbell ringing. This caused his smile to dissappear from his face and with an unhappy groan, Striped got up from his spot, turned off the TV and headed towards the door to see who this jackass was and why he was bothering him now.

Once Striped opened the door though, he was not only surprised by the fact who was standing there, but also shocked becasue of how she looked. Cookie was crying, her beautiful cornflower blue eyes were red from all the tears and she was holding some clothes in her arms.

"What happened," Striped asked, feeling sad for his friend, but also weirdly curious.

Cookie wiped the tears from her face, sniffling, as she handed Striped the note Hondo has left. Striped scanned the note quickly before squashing it.

"Crazy motherfucker," Striped muttered to himself.

Even though he was angry and disgusted, he decided to ignore his frustration and instead comfort Cookie. Striped opened the door and allowed her to enter in. As Cookie walked into the living room, Striped got into the kitchen and quickly filled a glass with water to which her handed Cookie.

"Thank you," she said, trying to hold back her tears, as she began drinking in large gulps. Once she was done, Striped kneeled down and asked her with a soft and comforting tone, "Okay, calm down now, Bett. Can you explain me what exactly happened?"

Cookie breathed in deeply and exhaled. She wiped off her running nose and tried to explain the situation. "Well, after our talk, I got inside my room only to find that Magnum has dissapeared with all of our baggage except for those clothes. And on top of them were this note and his wedding ring."

Striped frowned to himself and after a short, silent pause, he asked, "Did he take anything else? Like, do you atleast have your phone?"

Cookie turned her head aside and her eyes filled with tears once more. Striped got the idea and cursed Hondo in his thoughts once more, but he figured stewing in his anger would get him now where. Now the important thing was to calm his friend and find a way to help her.

"But how," Striped asked himself. This was his first time acting as a supporting friend, a shoulder on which Cookie to cry on. Sadly, the only thing he could thought of at the moment was to just give her a small hug and say, "I will be on the balcony if you need me." And with that the zebra stood up and walked away, leaving Cookie to cry out her pain. But before we walked out on the balcony, Striped stopped and let out a small sigh and the words "I am sorry" dissapeared into the air.

Striped spat out from the balcony and focused his look towards the empty road at the distance. The thing that led him to this place. Oh boy, what a vacation this was. The zebra shook his head and another exhale escaped his chest. He then put his hands on to his face and said to himself, "Striped, you dumb fuck, how can you be such an idiot? All those muscles and not a single brain cell. You can't even offer your friend help. All you can do is to sit here and act as a pussy. Truly pathetic."

The zebra was about to continue to degrade himself if it wasn't for Cookie's intervention. The mare came next to Striped and rested her hands on the guardrail. She looked at her friend who knows who, at this moment, seemed as troubled as her. Cookie rubbed her red and puffed cornflower blue eyes and yawned.

"How are you feeling, Bett?"

Cookie sighed and massaged her forehead with her fingers. "I am feeling so tired. It just has been so hard for me for the last weeks and months. Being sexually neglected, feeling like I have no worth and now this. Stuff like that can really wear out an equine."

Striped looked aside and moved his hand across his short mane. "Honestly, I can't imagine what an asshole you must be to make a beautiful mare, like you, think so poorly of herself."

"Well-" Cookie looked at Striped "-I guess we just found out."

This caused the two of them to share a small chuckle.

"You know, honestly I envy you." Cookie suddenly said.

This caused Striped to elevate one of his eyebrows and he immediately responded with, "Really? And what exactly makes you feel this way," he asked with a teasing tone.

"Well, you are bassically free to do whatever you want, you don't need to worry about or answer to your partner and you can have sex with whoever you want without feeling guilty or obliged to tell somebody."

Slowly, the smile on the zebra's face disappeared and he turned his look forward. "I see. Yeah, I guess it is like that. But honestly, I wish it wasn't. I mean, it may seem fun at first glance, but after doing it so many times, it gets boring. And on surface level I may seem as just another fuckboy, who sees the mares as nothing more than a sex toy, but in reality, I am as troubled as you are and I've had my fair share of struggles; one of them being the idea of monogamy."

Cookie didn't know how to react to this, but after a few seconds she placed her hand on Striped's shoulder and said, "I am sorry to hear this."

Striped rolled his eyes, getting slightly annoyed by this trivial apology, and his iconic smirk appeared once more. He then stood up and firmly, but gently, took Cookie's hand and said, "You don't have to, really. After all, you were the one who bringed this idea back to life. I know that it sounds very cheesy, especially since we have known each other for just a day, but in those hours you made me realise what I really want from life.

A big, warm smile brightened on Cookie's face. "It may be cheesy, but I am still glad I managed to influence you in such a way," she chuckled. Cookie then came even closer to Striped and wrapped her arms around the zebra's massive body, hugging him. Striped smiled and patted her on the back in return.

At 20:23 the two friends were sitting together for dinner, just about finished with the meal Striped prepared . After Cookie sallowed the last bite of it, she wiped her mouth with the napkin and said cheerfully, "Askari, this meal was amazing. You are such a great cook."

A prideful smirk appeared on the zebra's face and he leaned backwards in his seat, his hands rested behind his head. "Thanks, hot stuff. It honestly wasn't anything special, I do this almost every day."

Cookie chuckled and before Striped Fist could say anything, she took the plates and headed towards the small kitchen where she began to wash them. Striped gazed over at Cookie. She was humming to herself, a smile adorned her face, as she rolled back and forth on her feet and even moving her tail from side to side. .

"So, uh, from the note I got you have kids, right?"

The mare was so into this act that it took her a few seconds before she could react and answer to the question her friend asked her

"Oh, um, yeah. Yes I have. Two girls," Cookie turned off the water and after drying her hands, she came back to Striped and sat at the table.

"How old are they," he asked as he crossed his arms.

"Well, Rarity, the older one, just turned eight-teen years old. As for her sister Sweetie Belle, she is thirt-teen."

"So, Rarity and Sweetie Bell? Cute names. To be honest I've never been very good with kids and to be honest I am not exactly the type of person kids should be around, ya know," Striped scratched his chin and slightly looked aside. His smirking grin slowly faded away.

Cookie nodded and slowly tapped with her fingers onto the table before she looked over to the zebra and asked him, slightly blushing. "I don't want to sound like I am nagging, but when exactly are you planning to leave the resort?"

"Tommorow morning. How does that sound," Striped answered with no hesitation. Cookie's eyes lighted up with happiness, but the mare managed to contain her emotions and simply smiled. "Thank you," she whispered to herself.

Striped Fist stood up and after stretching a little bit, he asked his friend, "So, would you like to watch some TV?"

"Sure, why not?" Cookie stood up and followed Striped to the small couch in the living room. As they sat down, Striped placed his arm around Cookie, but this time, instead of pulling away from him, the mare rested her head on to the zebra's shoulder, much for his surprise. But he soon got used to it and, after taking the remote controller, asked her, "What type of movies you like to watch?"

"Are you sure you don't want me to sleep on the couch, Askari," Cookie's voice came out of outside the bedroom door. Striped Fist rolled his eyes and tried to sound as polite as possible, "Yes, I am sure I don't want you to sleep on the couch, Bett. A lady like you needs something more comfortable and besides, if all of this fuss is about the sexy pijama you're wearing, don't worry. I have already saw it so you won't surprise me or anything," he ended his sentence with a slight chuckle.

From outside came no respond and Cookie soon walked in, her fuchsia colored cheeks being slightly red. As she laid down next to Striped, he turned slightly aside, mostly to hide the growing buldge in his pants. "So, in case you wake up and find me gropping you or being too close to you, I give you the permission to kick me. Just don't kick me in the crotch,
okay?"

Cookie raised her eyebrow and asked, "Does this happens often?"

"Well, usually when there is a girl in my bed we are... Doing stuff and those stuff requires us to be very, and I mean VERY close to one another so-" Striped felt how his face became red and the zebra wondered if he should even finish this sentence.

But Cookie got the idea and simply sighed. "Honestly, I haven’t been intimate in such a long time that I honestly wouldn’t care if you did." With that being said she rested her head on the soft pillow.

The intrigued zebra looked from side to side and asked his friend, "Is this an invitation or-"

"Good night, Askari!"

The lights were then turned off and both tried to fall asleep.