It was a bright afternoon. The sun was about to set and you were just sitting in your cardboard box minding your own business and eating small scraps of food. You were abandoned by your parents when you were 14 because of how you were the "runt of the litter" out of the 4 siblings in your family.

In order to keep yourself from dying of starvation, you resorted to pickpocketing from other people, but not the ones who used it wisely. You didn't feel right from taking money from them, but it felt more satisfying to pickpocket from the drug abusers in the bad parts of the city. Of course, there was only one time when you did get caught and it was only by one guy who looked tough, but after a battle you almost lost, you beat the crap out of him and took whatever you could and run away with decent change.

But there were a few times when you earned money from more than just stealing it from gang members and drug abusers. You actually helped families find their lost pets in your spare time. Although, it wasn't easy to track them down, you still helped the families get their loving pets back and you were rewarded with a few hundred bucks. You used the money for eating out and purchasing some blankets. It was a whole lot more comfortable to sleep in your cardboard box, but, somehow you knew you couldn't rest just yet because there was still a lot of dangerous people out there who are merciless.

Today, you are 20 years old. You've only got $35 left in your pocket. You were walking down the sidewalk, looking for a restaurant so you could have a birthday dinner. You had a couple hundred bucks earlier, but you used it in order to purchase a loaded pistol and a surpressor. You had a pocket on the inside of your coat so it was easy to keep your pistol covered up.

The streets were quiet so far, other than the sounds of car horns and tires screeching, but other than that, it was actually really quiet. Your eyes darted to the left and you saw Golden Corral. You figured you had enough cash on hand so you went there to celebrate your birthday. You walked over to the restaurant and went inside, greeting the clerk behind the counter. You tell her you're eating by yourself. You pay her and you grab a cup of cold pepsi and bring it to your table at the window. Next, you went over to where the food was with a tray and started looking at what you wanted to eat first.

You figured you'd just get whatever scent smelled best. In short, you filled your tray with one plate of steak and a side salad, a few slices of pepperoni pizza, shrimp and a baked potato. You took your food over to your table and sat down, getting ready to eat. You took one bite out of your steak and your tastebuds felt like they were singing "hallelujah" so you started taking bigger bites.

But just when you were about to bite into your pizza, you heard the entrance door bust wide open and people screaming bloody murder. Next thing you hear was,

"Alright, nobody move! If y'all don't want a bullet shot in yo asses, then stay down! You! Take the money out of the register right now!" said a male voice.

"Oh jeez, not this again." you say, unamused. You got up from your chair and took out your gun. As you did so, someone screamed out.

"AHH, HE'S GOT A GUN!"

This freaked out the robber and he ran into the dining area to see who had a gun. He turned to his right but everyone on that side was ducking. He turned to the left and saw you. At that moment, you immediately pulled the trigger and shot the gun right out of the guy's hand. The robber started to get a little shaken up and backed away from you.

"Now listen here. Today happens to be a special day. So how about I let you off with a warning? You don't ever show your face in this restaurant ever again, or you're in for a bad time." you say.

"S-Shut up! Stay back! I'm warning you, you psycho!" the robber said. He then turned around to look at the exit ready to get out of there. But instead, his attention turned to the soda machine. Soon after, he got a cup and filled it up midway with a drink and threw it at you, staining your clothes and making you flinch a bit, which was a big mistake because you then felt yourself getting tackled.

You fell onto the ground, losing your grip on your pistol. You and the robber started punching each other, trying to get him off of you. The robber was getting desperate to stay in control, but a lucky kick in the balls stunned him and he fell off you, clutching his crotch. You crawled towards your pistol and grabbed it before getting up and turning around. The robber was running away but then he turned around and he surprisingly had his gun in his hand. Both of you pulled the trigger and shot each other. You felt the pain in your left hip, but he felt the pain in his left chest and collapsed onto the ground.

The people all shouted in fear. You dropped your gun and stumbled onto your knees. But with the last ounce of strength, you crawled towards the robber and took off his ski mask to reveal what made you feel sick to your stomach, and the robber you had shot was your own dad.

"Why'd you fucking come back?!" you asked him. Surprisingly, your dad looked at you and said,

"Forgive me. I have lived a life of sin and regret. I'm sorry....." he said with his last breath before collapsing on the ground, completely lifeless. You also felt dizzy, you collapsed next to your dad and felt your vision becoming dimmer and dimmer until there was nothing but darkness.

Moments later, you woke up, but the pain in your hip was gone. It was like you were never shot to begin with and you felt confused about it. You checked your surroundings and saw that you were in a cardboard box in a dark alley, which was strange because you wondered if everything you did at the restaurant was all just a really bad dream. You got out of your box and stretched your body out to loosen your limbs.

Afterwards, you walked out of the alley and into the busy streets. But when you do, you are taken by surprise at the sight of the citizens. Everyone around you was an anthro horse. But what bothered you most was that they were all wearing rich clothes and acting all stuck-up. You never took kindly to stuck-up people, let alone anthro horses and you certainly didn't want to stick around.

You then turned yourself around and walked back into the alley and got inside your box. You stared at the town from the alley with an unamused expression. You stared at the town for a good 15 minutes until you grew bored and decided to take lay down and rest. 5 minutes after you closed your eyes, you heard the sound of a female voice coming from in front of you.

"Oh dear, are you alright, darling?" she asked. You opened up one eye and looked up. It was an anthro unicorn horse wearing an aqua blue dress with a matching summer hat. Her fur was white and she had bright pink hair with a matching tail and she had purple eyes.

You didn't want to be rude, so you sat up and spoke back. "I'm fine, just a little drowsey."

"And you're sleeping in a cardboard box? That doesn't seem right!"

"Life was hard for me for 6 whole years."

"Exactly how old are you, deary?"

"I just turned 20 today."

"Oh, no, no, no, this simply will not do. Come, I know a place where you can stay."

"Are you sure about that? I don't think the locals will--"

"I insist, deary. I won't have anypony sleeping uncomfortably in a cardboard box."

"Um, alright, if you insist."

She offers you her hand and you reach out to grab her hand. She helps you back up on your feet and takes you out of the alley, keeping her hand locked on yours. As she guides you through the town, everyone around you gave you either the look of disgust, surprise, or just plain turn away. You stared at everyone who judged you with your unamused expression.

For about a few minutes, you felt like you were walking circles. You then wondered, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what's your name?"

"Oh right, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Fleur De Lis, but you can call me Fleur." she says. You told her your name soon afterwards. She smiles, but then her eyes gazed over to the left. "Ah, it appears that we've finally arrived at my home."

"Your home?" you asked, turning to the left. Your jaw drops at the sight. Her home was a huge mansion with a beautiful fountain in the front yard. The whole place was guarded by a wall made of cinderblock and a steel black gate with a golden F in the middle. "You're kidding, right?" you ask.

Fleur giggles. "Nope, this is my home. I've lived here ever since my modeling career became a success and some time after my parents passed away."

"Oh, sorry to hear about your parents. What were they like?"

"They were kind of strict, but very well-respected. They helped me pursue my modeling career and supported me all the way until my loving father passed away from a stroke and mother passed away from natural causes at her old age."

"Whoa. Well, at least they're resting in peace."

"Thank you, darling. Now come, let's go inside. The first thing we've got to do is get you in the shower, wash your clothes and then, fix you up something to eat. You must be starving." she says.

Her horn then starts to glow and the whole gate starts to open up. She grabs you by the hand and guides you up the path to her front doors where two lion statues stood on each side. She opened the front doors and took you inside before closing up the doors. She takes you up the stairs and down the hall in the middle and towards the third door on the left where the bathroom was.

"You can wash up in here while I take care of those dirty clothes. But first, I think it's best if I give you a little privacy to change out of your clothes." Fleur says.

"Um... thanks, Fleur." you reply as you walk in. You close the door and took off all of your clothes until you were completely naked and exposed. You grabbed your clothes, opened up the door and gave Fleur your dirty clothes before closing the door again.

"There's a towel hanging on the wall, you can use that." she says behind the door.

"Okay, will do." you reply.

You walked over to the shower and turned on the water. You adjusted the temperature of the water until it was warm enough to step in. The feeling of the warm, shower droplets beating down on your skin felt so relaxing that you let out a sigh of relief. For a little while, you just let the warm water hit you, but later on, you started to wash yourself while thinking about what happened to you.

It just didn't make sense to you that an anthro unicorn woman was actually being nice to you, and she lived in a mansion where only the most fortunate of people could live. She doesn't act snooty like the locals here, even though she dresses up in some pretty expensive clothes. You just couldn't understand why someone with so much class could actually care about you that much.

However, you were still grateful that she was there to help you in your time of need. It spared you from more hardships and breaking your heart even further. But, even she has had it rough with her parents now deceased and that she had to live on her own. It then occured to you that even some high society people in the world have their jaded pasts and that some don't like to talk about it, or even show it.

After you finished washing yourself, you rinsed off your whole body and shook the water out of your hair before turning off the water. You stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel to dry yourself off. After you were done, you placed the towel back on the towel hanger.

You noticed that there was a white bath robe you could use temporarily to cover yourself. You grabbed it and wrapped it around your whole body. To your surprise, it was more than enough to cover your manhood without much of a fuss and this made you feel more at ease. You unlocked the door and peeked out to see if anyone was around, but all you saw was an empty hall.

Unfortunately, even though you were all covered up, you felt it was bad manners to walk around a huge mansion being naked, despite the robe. So you closed the door and sat down on the toilet seat. You sighed and waited for Fleur to come back to get you. For five minutes, you waited until there was a knock on the bathroom door, making you look towards it.

"Are you okay in there?" Fleur asked from behind the door.

"Yeah, I'm just about finished in here. I got a robe on." you reply, before getting off the toiler seat and unlocking the door to let her in. "Go ahead and come in."

"Thank you, deary." Fleur then opens the door and comes into the bathroom. "Oh my, you've cleaned up very nicely, well, come along downstairs and we'll make you a fantastic banquet."

"Wait, I don't even have any other clothes."

"That's alright. It's just you and me for the night. I told the servants to go on break for the rest of day. After all, you said that today was your birthday, was it not?"

"I... I did say that."

"Then, come along. There's no need to be shy, I've even brought the curtains down. This way, no pony will be able to see you completely naked. Even though you're wearing a robe."

"Alright then."

"Fabulous." Fleur then takes you by the hand and walks you down the hall towards the stairs. As you both reached the bottom, she leads you towards one of the doors and behind it showed the dining hall where there was a long table with lots of delicious foods.

Your jaw dropped at the sight. You could already feel your stomach growling. Fleur sits you down on one of the chairs and sits next to you.

"So, what would you like to eat, darling? I didn't know what you liked so I had the chefs make a few simple meals as well as some upper class foods." Fleur explains.

"Hmm, I think I'll take some of these..." you say, reaching to grab what looked like a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches, "...and some of this." you grabbed a bowl of salad and scooped some onto your plate before putting it back in the center.

"Very well then, I even had the chefs make you a cake. It's chocolate flavored."

"Great, thanks. I love chococlate."

Fleur giggled, knowing that she served up some good food for you. She served herself soon afterwards and started eating quietly to yourselves. It had been a long time since anyone cooked a meal for you and it was like the food was made by a the gods. But, you didn't pig out like some other people who haven't eaten in so long, but instead, you ate at a steady pace.

You glaced at Fleur and gave her a quick smile before looking back and eating your food with your smile suddenly disappearing from your face. Fleur noticed your expression and got a little concerned, thinking you might have something on your mind. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and placed her hand over yours, getting your attention.

"Darling, is something the matter?" she asked.

"N-No, it's nothing, Fleur." you lied.

"You know, you can tell me anything. I never turn my back on somepony in need."

"I don't know, Fleur. I don't feel right with explaining my personal problems."

"Come now, deary. If you don't explain your problems, you'll never be able to feel better. If something's bothering you, you should try to get it off your chest."

You looked at Fleur with uncertainty in your eyes. But she looked at you with her sincere expression. You closed your eyes and let out a sigh. "Alright, Fleur. But, this might be a bit of a shock to you."

"I'm all ears."

"You see, Fleur, where I come from, I use to live in this big house. I was the youngest of four children and by the time I was 14 years old, my mom and dad kicked me out."

"What? That's terrible! Why would they do that?"

"They told me they had no use for "the runt of the litter."

"Ugh, now that's just plain rude! You're not a runt. Why you're practically a grown man."

"Thanks, but they thought differently. For 6 whole years, I've had to fend for myself in order to keep going strong and make it to another day. I was a bit of a crook when I got thrown out. I stole money from others, but only those who only used it to buy or sell drugs. To this day, I hate myself for doing that. I wanted to find another way to earn it besides taking from those who blow it off on drugs or alchohol."

"Did you find another way?"

"Yeah, I took the liberty of finding a few lost pets. The money they offered me was little, but the look on their happy faces made it all worth it."

"So, how did you end up here in Canterlot?"

"I don't know, but I do remember that I was at a restaurant for my birthday, but I never got to eat my fill because some burglar broke in to try and steal money. Everyone was too scared to go after him, but I had other plans, which was to scare him out of the building."

"So, how did it go?"

"We... we both shot each other. I got him in the heart, he got me in the hip. When I crawled over to see who he was, my whole stomach turned. The guy I shot was my own father. He told me he lived a life of sin and regret before he apologized to me. Then... black out."

"Oh dear. That's horrible! I'm ever so sorry you had to go through that. Is your hip alright?"

"Surprisingly, it doesn't hurt anymore. It's like I never got shot. Which could only mean one thing. I must have passed away back home and now I suppose I should live my life here."

"But, why do you sound so calm about leaving your world?"

"There's nothing good that'll come out of going back to my own hometown. If anything, it's best if I stay here in this new world and start over."

"Hmm, I see. Well, if you want, you can stay here with me and I'll help get you settled in."

"I'd really appreciate that, Fleur. Thank you." You gave her a warm smile and hugged her. She blushes from your sudden warm embrace, but then she hugs you back. After you both pulled away, you and her finally got back to eating your dinner.

After dinner was over, you got up and stretched out your body. Fleur got up from her chair and took the dishes back into the kitchen to wash them. You waited at the dinner table for her to return. In the meantime, a whole cluster of these thoughts entered your mind. For so long, you thought that upperclass society was always sort of snooty and unkind, but somehow, Fleur was different.

She never saw you as a piece of trash or some bum who didn't deserve to exist. Instead, she saw you as a poor lost soul, looking for a place in this new world to belong after a grueling life back home. She was like an angel of God sent down to protect you. The thought of that put a warm smile on your face. And somehow, someday, you would find a way to repay her for saving your life.

And for the first time in 6 years, your birthday really felt like a happy birthday.

Author's Note

okay, this chapter's all done.