Celestia, I loved rain. Rain was the only thing, at least to my knowledge, that could make you shiver and sweat at the same time. The rain could have made you nervous, or it could have chilled you off. To some, rain was a blessing. To others it was a nuisance.

To me, it was a mobile hiding spot. Ever since I’d gotten kicked from the orphanage, I hadn't exactly had cash rolling in. Actually, I had no cash rolling in. I needed money to get into college, I needed college to get a job, and I needed a job to get money to pay for college so I could get a job and get money. Whoever created this system better be on some sort of medication after how badly they screwed it up.

Anyway, the point is that I needed money, and the way things were going I didn’t see myself getting a job any time soon. I was too inexperienced, too clumsy, and too teenager-y. So, I used nature to my advantage. Rain meant dark clouds, and dark clouds meant limited sight. And it was the perfect time for my... less-than-acceptable "job", if you will.

I walked around Canterlot casually, observing each fancy building as if I were a tourist. Canterlot was, and still is, a prosperous city, which means that instead of having stands built up on every corner, they had stores with bright lights and high-alert security guards. That’s not to say that there weren’t stands around. You’d find the occasional out-of-town salespony with a shop open and goofy smile plastered on their face. With the lack of stalls around with rain and whatnot, I took to the sidewalks. No matter what time it was, however, there would always be plenty of ponies wandering the streets trying to get home or trying to get away from home.

I tugged my cloak tighter around my mane, taking extra care to hide my horn, as I swayed between oncoming ponies. I kept my head low and my eyes up. These ponies were certainly well-dressed, but not the ponies I was looking for.

Then I spotted him. A handsome grey Unicorn stallion with a black tux, top hat and monocle with a large umbrella levitated over his head. He was heading straight for me. I took a deep breath as he neared. This was the part I hated most. I hated being deceitful. I hated—

“Oh!” I said as I tripped into the stallion. Keeping my head down, I lit up my horn and telekinetically searched his pockets in seconds. “I-I’m sorry.” I stuttered. I almost blew my cover as I stifled a squeal of happiness. My magic had found what it was searching for.

“You'd better be!” the stallion snorted haughtily and raised a hoof in disgust. “Gutter-trash like you have no right to wander this city.”

While the retort had stung, it did make me feel a better about taking his wallet right out from under his snobby nose. I kept an apologetic grin on my face. “Really, I’m terribly sorry, sir.”

With a grunt, the stallion whipped his head back around and continued at a quicker pace. Not wanting to give him a chance to turn around and find me, I quickly turned into an alleyway and trotted to the end of it, stopping only when I’d reached the dumpster that was pressed against the wall. I stood between the end of the alley and the dumpster and slowly slid down the concrete, hitting the ground with a wet slap. I took a deep breath and levitated what I’d taken from under my cloak: a small, velvet wallet with red silk lining.

I take back what I said earlier. This was the part I hated the most. I could have run up to the stallion, given it back and begged for forgiveness, I could have turned it in saying that I'd found the wallet lying on the ground.

But I hadn't.

I opened the wallet and took out the money that was inside, which added up to about sixty bits. I frowned and leaned my head against the wall with my eyes closed, listening to the sound of the few raindrops that slipped passed the awnings that stretched over the alley. It was a good sum of money, it was more than I’d ever gotten in a single swipe before. I should have been thankful, but inside I felt vile and wretched. I hated stealing, I hated lying, I hated being "gutter-trash". I hated that my first caretaker had had a stroke, I hated that my last foster-parent had been such a… an…

I also hated swearing.

I took another deep breath and slowly blew it out, mentally preparing myself. I got to my hooves and peered over the edge of the dumpster. I recoiled slightly from the stench and levitated a few trash bags out of the way before stashing the wallet to the metal bottom and replaced the bags. I dropped back onto all four hooves and gave the money another quick count before making toward the open end of the alley. I waited until a large swarm of Canterlot’s not-so-elite passed by so that I could at least try to blend in. Seeing a young cloaked pony with her head low mixed in with a bunch of preps wouldn’t exactly look very natural.

Since I had all the money I’d need for the day, I loosened up my cloak. My mane was still slicked back and tied, and my tail was tucked so tightly to my rump that not a single strand could have be seen. At least, I hoped it still was. There was no easy way to hide my coat colour, but as long as I kept my gaze low to hide my eyes and my mane out of sight, it would be nearly impossible to pick me out of a line up. Do you know how many pink mares are in Canterlot alone? Not to mention the entirety of Equestria?

I looked out from under my hood and scanned the lines of stores until my gaze finally rested on an uppity food market. Okay, I guess that in Canterlot, all of the stores could be considered “uppity”, so I guess I could just call it a food market. I made my way to it quickly, separating myself from my herd, and slipped inside. I shivered as soon as my hooves touched the tile floor. The bright lights overhead reflected off of the white floor, causing me to wince and raise my head. While the atmosphere outside had been warm with the lovely smell of rain, the store was cold with the strong odor of lemon floor polish. I could hear the light clopping of hooves from elsewhere in the store. I shivered again and made my way down the first aisle, grabbing a small basket on the way.

I trotted wearily past an older Unicorn mare, her yellow mane in a tight bun and her blue coat sleek and shiny. It almost looked greasy, as if she had just a tad too much product, and knowing Canterlot, that was probably the case. She cast me a sideways glance along with a tiny nod of acknowledgement. I returned the nod with wide eyes and turned around, looking at the shelves.

“You’re a bit jumpy, aren't you?” I proved her point by nearly jumping out of my skin at her voice, despite how soft it was. She gave me a small grin as I looked at her.

“Er, yeah. Yeah, I guess,” I replied with a small grin of my own.

She turned back to the shelves as she spoke, “Are you in any of the universities here in Canterlot?”

“Um, no,” I said uneasily. The mare raised an eyebrow, but gave no other reaction as I continued, “I’m just trying to settle into being on my own first.”

The mare nodded. “I see. Are you not from around here?”

I swallowed. “Nope.”

“Where are you from?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. The only place I'd ever really known was the orphanage, which was a place where being cute was what got you adopted. As time went on I got older, too old to stay there. Nopony wants to raise a teenager. Although the only place that came to my mind was the orphanage, it wasn't where I was from. I came from somepony, somepony I couldn't even remember. Somepony who had a story, and for some reason I was no longer involved in it. I looked into the mare's lavender gaze and held it steadily as I whispered, “I don’t know.”

The mare stared at me for a moment that could have lasted a single second or an entire lifetime. She levitated a small can from the shelves and examined it closely as she replied, “Oh. Well,” She cleared her throat and put the can into her basket. She gave me a gentle smile. “It doesn’t matter where you come from, dear. Only where you end up.” While I let that sink in, she winked at me and made her way down the aisle and to the counter near the entrance. I watched, mouth agape, as she paid and left without a single glance back.

I exited the store as quietly as one could with two bags of tin cans banging against each other. I was pretty proud of myself for only spending fifteen bits. I wanted to grab as much as I could've afforded, but Celestia knows that would have been a moronic thing to do. I just knew that the rest of the money would help sooner or later.

The rain had stopped and the reaction was almost instantaneous. Ponies practically poured from apartment buildings and offices. There were still dark clouds in the sky, but it didn’t seem to dampen the moods of anypony. I made my way down the sidewalk at a steady pace, being sure not to look too suspicious– not an easy feat given the cloak. Heck, just the place I was going was a bit odd. Any sane pony would wonder why a living creature would go near a building so… unappealing.

The little place I called “home” was an abandoned apartment building on the outside of town. It looked exactly as you’d expect an abandoned building to look. Doors and window panes were either missing or hanging by a thread, paint was chipping, critters were nesting. The building was actually much like an actual apartment, except that ponies didn’t pay to live there. Well, they sort of did. The building was home to other ponies without places to go, three ponies (excluding myself) to be exact. The only payment that was required for living there was to share your food with the others at night. We had a bit of a camp thing going. We all ate dinner together, we cooked together, and we each played a part. Almost like a family.

It was certainly the closest I'd ever come to having one, anyway.

I squeezed past the debris that was partially blocking the entrance, tugging hard at the bags of food. I grunted when they finally came free, only to get a hard pain in my chest as physics did its job and the cans banged into me. I groaned and stumbled into what used to be a lobby. I set my cans beside the old front desk and sighed as I looked around. It was still kind of early, the others would have still been out getting money.

The others didn’t get money the way I did. They were honourable. They would never cheat and steal from others. They sat on the sidelines, asking for money. I had done that at first, but it was when I realized that I was only making about four bits a day that I resorted to stealing. The others didn’t, to my knowledge, know about my money method, but I think that they would have been grateful either way. There was a mother and a foal living with me, and neither of them were getting by with four bits a day.

I pricked my ears when I heard thumps coming from upstairs. I almost began to panic when I realized that it must have been Lilac, the little pegasus filly, trying to fly. I could hear the muffled words of her mother, Jade. I smiled as I quickly made my way upstairs, stopping at the entrance to their room. I stood there silently for a long moment, just watching Lilac. The small purple filly reared up on her hind legs and fluttered her tiny wings as hard as she could, but to no avail.

Jade smiled at her daughter before she finally noticed me and waved me over. “Hi, Sparkler.”

“Hey, Jade,” I greeted her. I looked down at Lilac and mussed her pink mane. “Hey, squirt.”

“Hi, Spark-a-ler!” She dropped back onto her hooves and giggled up at me.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Jade began as she stood up and slowly walked over to me. The white pegasus' eyes were wide with concern. “I haven’t been able to go out yet, and I was waiting for somepony to get back.” She glanced at Lilac, who’d turned her attention to a piece of fuzz attached the shag rug. Jade’s green eyes glistened as she gazed at her daughter and turned back to me. “I can’t leave her here alone.”

I gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, she’ll be safe with me.” I hadn’t known Jade for too long. She’d just gotten here about a month before, and while she seemed really sweet, she didn’t seem all that trusting. I also realized that she’d never let our only stallion resident look after Lilac. I don’t know what had happened to Lilac’s father, but it couldn’t have been anything good. Why she had left her daughter in the hooves of a homeless teenager, I never understood.

Jade gave me a grateful smile and a quick hug. “Thank you.” She looked at me for a short second before going back to her daughter and leaning down to her eye level. “Sweetie, I have to go for awhile, okay?” Just as her daughter was about to protest, she went on, “Don’t worry, Sparkler’s gonna be here with you.” She gestured to me.

That seemed to have worked, because Lilac’s blue eyes brightened up. Jade grinned. “That’s my girl.” She gave her filly a quick peck on the forehead before standing up and heading for the door. Lilac and I waved to her as she paused at the doorway, staring at us intensely, before finally heading down the stairs.

I turned to Lilac with a smile. “So, what have you and your mom been doing all day?”

“Waiting for the rain to go ‘way.” She shuffled her hooves on the carpet and glanced at them with a sigh. “Mommy wouldn’t let me go outside.”

I frowned at that. “That’s because she loves you and doesn’t want you to get sick. Do you want to be sick?” I waited silently for the filly to answer and continued when I saw her slowly shake her head. “Nopony likes being sick.” I paused and booped her on the nose with my hoof. “Especially cute little fillies.”

To my relief, Lilac brightened up at that. I could understand Jade’s wariness on letting her daughter out in the rain. Sure, playing out in the rain was fun if you didn’t stay out too long and had medicine on hoof, but not for a homeless filly. With winter on its way, Lilac getting a cold would be inevitable, and we didn’t exactly have the money to run out and buy medicine every time somepony got the sniffles.

The positive effect my little speech had on the bite-size pegasus didn't last long as she glanced out of the window. The rain had stopped, but I could still see the remaining storm clouds hanging around the outskirts of the city. It was weird. It almost felt as if they were hunting us.

"I wanna go outside, Sparky!" Lilac stomped her tiny hooves and fluttered her wings. "I wanna fly!"

"I know you wanna fly, squirt," I began. I sat down next to her. "You're a bit too weak for that right now." Lilac gave me a worried glance. I nuzzled her and smirked. "Hey, you'll grow." I looked back out the window and heaved a sigh. "Everypony does eventually," I added, half to myself.

Lilac never took her eyes from the window as she answered. "I can't wait! I'm gon' be the fastest flyer ever! And I'll zoom around everywhere!" As soon as she finished, she sprang to her hooves and looked at me defiantly. "Outside!"

I stared at her for a long moment, trying to decide what to do. What was the protocol for taking a filly outside of her home? This wasn't the orphanage. There were no fences, no walls. Nothing to keep her confined or make her feel small. I narrowed my eyes and grinned. "Fine." I laughed as I heard Lilac's squeal of surprise and joy.

"C'mon," I said as I got to my hooves. I gave my head a quick shake as I started down the stairs, listening to the tiny hoofsteps of the filly following close behind. I once again squeezed past the blockage before reaching my hoof in and holding back as much of it as I could for Lilac. It turned out that I didn't need to do that; Lilac was just tiny enough to get through without a single hair on her coat bothered.

I stood there for a moment, just listening. On my right I could hear the peaceful sounds of nature. I heard birds chirping to each other and the scuttling of burrowing mice. On my left, however, I heard chaos. I heard yelling and obnoxious music that I didn't understand. If I had to choose, I'd go to the right in a heartbeat.

My thoughts were interrupted by Lilac tugging on my tail. I looked back at her with an amused smile and hoisted her onto my back with a grunt before beginning a steady trot into the trees. I shivered as I stepped into the shade of the forest. Celestia's Sun didn't shine here, at least not often. There weren't exactly a lot of forests in or around Canterlot, but the forests that were there, I assure you, were some of the thickest. They didn't have the eerie atmosphere that you hear about in stories of places like Everfree Forest. Despite the chaotic nature of the nearby city, Canterlot's forests were the finest and calmest around, and when somepony emerged from one you could still smell the faint scent of evergreen and lavender on their mane.

I glanced back at Lilac to see her looking wildly around her, practically shaking with excitement. Her blue eyes swept every tree, her mind trying to take in and understand everything around her. "Pretty," she whispered.

"Very pretty." I agreed.

The majority of our journey was spent in silence. Lilac had never been known for being quiet, at least not in the time I had known her. She was always full of energy, her blue eyes wide and wings outstretched. While normally I could hardly ever get a word in edgewise around the exuberant pegasus, listening to nothing but the sounds of nature and our own breathing was strangely calming. Every once in a while I would hear her let out a tiny gasp as she watched a bird flutter from tree to tree, or a whimper of uneasiness at the sight of a spider web.

Finally, we got to the point where the forest was starting to get thick, too thick for my liking. Lilac groaned and pressed into my back with her hooves as I turned around. "Nooo!"

"Sorry, kid." I said, trotting back the way I'd come. “We gotta get home. We've been in here a while." I said as I raised my eyes to the sky. The stormy grey evening that had been there earlier was now fading into what would be a beautiful cloudy night. Lilac groaned again, but said nothing as we made our way through the trees. "Besides," I continued. "Aren’t you hungry?" A tiny rumble behind my ear answered me.

"Maybe a little..."

"That's what I thought."

"Nice, Sparkler." I heard a gruff voice say as Lilac and I squeezed into the lobby. As Lilac hopped off of my back, I looked to see a large brown Earth stallion nudging my groceries with a hoof. He stared at me with a suspicious gaze. "How do you manage to get a good haul in every day?"

He'd asked me the question so many times that the lie easily rolled off my tongue. "Dunno, Auto. If you saw a pretty teenage mare on the street, wouldn't you help her out?"

Auto grunted. "I can think of a few things that other stallions would do in that situation."

I flicked my tail uncomfortably.

"Lucky for you, I'm not one of those stallions." He opened one of the bags and took out a few cans. "I'd wondered where the two of you had run off to. I knew there was no way Jade was gonna take Lilac into Canterlot."

I glanced at Lilac, who was examining the other bag, before answering. "She was with me."

"I figured."

"So Jade isn't back yet?"

Auto shook his head. "Nah, but she should be back soon." He looked out the window with a frown before looking back at me. "S'not safe for a young mare like herself to be wandering around Canterlot at night."

I shivered at the thought as I nodded in agreement.

As if on cue, Jade grunted as she pushed her way into the lobby. Lilac's head shot up and eyes sparkled as she bounded over to her mother. "Mommy!"

Jade patted Lilac on the head, but didn't speak on the account of her mouth holding a bag. She put it down next to my two bags, and my heart twinged with sympathy when I heard the clanking of what sounded like just two cans.

"Hi, honey." She said as she kissed her daughter's forehead. She looked at me with a tiny smile. "How was she?"

"She was perfect." I assured her.

"Yeah, yeah!" Lilac jumped up and down. "We went into the forest!"

Jade's eyes shot open and her wings flared. "For-forest?"

I put up a hoof as Jade opened her mouth to begin panicking. "Don't worry, Jade. She stayed on my back the whole time."

"It was fun!" Lilac added.

Jade swallowed and blinked at me. "Yes, well..." she cleared her throat and grinned. "Good."

"Y'all ready for dinner?" We all looked at Auto, who had three cans of beans opened up.

Lilac jumped up, wings buzzing, waving a tiny hoof frantically. "Oh, me! Me! I am!"

I tried to ignore the gurgling in my stomach as I shook my head. "N-no. I'll wait."

As Lilac ran to receive her can, Jade gave me a look. "Sparkler..."

"Really, Jade. I won't eat until you and Lilac have."

Jade sighed as Auto handed her a can. "You always do this, Sparkler."

"Because I want to make sure that you get some." I lowered my voice as I added, “Lilac needs her strength, Jade. Especially with winter coming in.”

Auto flopped down with his own can and tore into it, using one of our old plastic spoons. He waved his spoon at me as he spoke to Jade. "Let her do what she pleases." He stuck a spoon full of beans into his mouth and shrugged. "No skin off my nose."

I frowned and sat down.

Jade frowned too, as she swept a wing over Lilac, who was too busy enjoying her dinner to notice the tension in her mother’s voice. "Auto–" I put up a hoof, cutting her off. I shook my head slowly. Jade closed her mouth and settled for a sigh before finally beginning to eat.

As the two pegasi finished their food, it was finally my turn to eat. I levitated a can of beans and a spoon to myself and set them down in front of me. I watched with growing fury as Auto nonchalantly grabbed a second can and began to dig in. I pressed my hooves into the floorboards, thankful that Jade nor Lilac had seen the stallion's action. That wasn't fair! We all needed the food, why would he take seconds? I lit up my horn to snatch the can away from him, but decided otherwise. The last thing we needed was a fight. I instead picked up my spoon and opened my can.

I ate my dinner quietly, with nothing to listen to but Jade's soft words to her sleepy filly.

Cold.

I shivered myself awake for what could have been the fifth time that night. Winter was definitely drawing closer with each passing day, and the ragged blanket I had over my body wasn't doing much of anything. I sat up and leaned my head against the wall behind me, keeping my gaze straight ahead and watching my breath billow out into the room. The moon was full, and its light spilled into the room, illuminating even the darkest corners. It was nice.

But that wasn't stopping me from shivering. If anything, it made it worse. I could only imagine how Princess Luna had felt for all of those centuries. Sitting completely alone on a cold rock with nopony around to comfort her or keep her warm. All she'd had was her own thoughts. At least now she was safe at home with her sister.

In a bed.

With a blanket.

In a castle.

I shivered again and flopped back down onto the sheet beneath me, yanking the blanket over me using my magic. This would be my first homeless winter, the first of many more to come. I was gonna have to get used to it. I sighed as I felt my eyelids begin to droop once more, and as they met, sleep crashed over me like the ocean's darkest wave.

Author's Note

A huge thanks to Luminary,Chopsuey, and Chengar Qordath for prereading. You guys rock! :)