Garbage day. Possibly the worst day of the week for a small light orange skinned girl who roughs it out on the streets.
She stretched out both her arms and legs, also twisting her back until she felt small pops along it and had limbered up, reluctantly she sat up and looked around her. The sun was just peering over town hall so by her calculations it was around half eight to nine. Damn if it wasn't the school holidays she would has been shitting herself but as proof that it was indeed that time of the year she stared out of her box to a fresh layer of white snow just beyond the thin plastic sheet that provided her a barrier between her and the outside world.
Having had enough of looking out over the bitter cold weather she emerged from the place she called home. It was a collection of old, used moving boxes and pieces of scrap she had found laying around on the streets not much but just enough for her to live in.
Recently with the snow and heavy rain she had found an old steel plate just the size of her boxes so she could at least help prevent them going damp and being ruined. In just over 3 years she must have gone through easily forty boxes due to bad winters and surprisingly worse springs, she blamed that on all this talk of global warming she was hearing.
She was quickly pulled away from those thoughts as she felt a dryness in her mouth and throat. she knew she had to drink but hated the way she got her water in the winter, sure it wasn't hard to do but it could be expensive so she tried to make it in bulk to save on the gas. Re entering her home she looked under the old wash cloths until she found what she was looking for, a small camping stove and a pan with a plastic cup to cover it in, she quickly deposited a couple handfuls of snow into the pan and started to heat it up.
That annual sister camping trip really came in handy for something like this and she was glad that when she asked Rainbow if she could keep it as a reminder of the weekend she had said yes. That was coming up to 2 years ago now and all the tips and tricks helped her massively. Although nothing she did could ever help her sleep as well as when she shared that tent with Rainbow.
The warmth that was kept within the tent and how safe she felt compared to the streets was immense, not to say that there's much crime in Canterlot but being only 14 you still had to be on your guard.
As the snow started to melt Scootaloo got out a single breakfast bar and took a conservative bite. Her frame was always covered by her hoodie and shorts due to how high she wore her socks but when she looked underneath there was just bones poking out everywhere. Her ribs stood out the most due to her concave stomach, she was pretty sure she could cut something with the way her hips almost pushed through the thin layer of skin and she hardly ever rested on her knees due to the pain it caused her.
Once she had eaten maybe a third of the bar she looked over to see a little pot of boiling water starting to evaporate, 'not long now' she thought to herself as she moved the bar to the side as to not be tempted to eat anymore, she knew how low on food she was and even lower on money to buy anymore. She had devised a plan to make it to her 15th birthday where she would receive gifts from her friends and then use the money she could from selling them to stock up on food for hopefully a few months. She hated to do it but it was that or die.
However there was one gift she never sold or even let out of her sight. Opening her jacket to find a handmade large pocket inside she pulled out a picture of her and Rainbow Dash on her 12th birthday, just a few months after she had come to Canterlot. She was the first friend she had made which was strange considering the age gap but to her it didn't matter she finally had someone who cared enough to ask her how she was and wanted to hear her problems. Although she never told her about her living situation as she didn’t want to push away. She had later met Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and found out that not only did they know who Rainbow Dash was but there sisters were all best friends.
Looking over at the steamed up cup on top of the pan she turned of the gas and piled snow on the cup to cool it down back to water so she could finally have a drink.
After a few more minutes she had a cup full of water taking just enough of a sip to quench her thirst she put the cup down beside the biscuit and looked at the shabby calendar on the wall. "Ah crap.” She spat seeing the day was a Friday. She hated garbage day, most times it just meant covering up the boxes in a few black towels and they'd never see it, but a few times she had been caught out and had everything taken from her. She now had a collection of well over 6 months so to lose it all now would be heart breaking and probably just put the nail in the coffin.
With that though her arm stated to burn like it had done multiple times in the past week or so, rolling up her sleeve she saw the ever growing black mark of decaying skin just past her shoulder. "Damn I with I knew that the fuck this was.” She quietly cursed to herself.
By now the sun was high in the sky and caused a reflection of the bottle of gas, moving it out of the suns rays to prevent anyone getting suspicious about the shine of light down the alleyway.
Being content with how she was feeling now she one again left her box and this time she left the alleyway. After checking that there was no one to see her walk out from the dark alleyway she threw on her best smile she could and made her way towards the public swimming pool.
Only living in a cardboard box meant that she lacked some of the more hygienic needs that most take for granted but after finding the place in early spring that year she decided that every Monday and Friday she would head down and use the showers and toilets after all it was better than behind a wall near her box.
After slowly making her way across town trying not to look In too much discomfort due to her food starved body. Arriving at the shut gates she mentally beat herself "its the middle on winter, not to mentions the holidays are in a weeks time, and I thought that they would be open," letting out a sigh she turned back around and started to head back to where her home was concealed down the alleyway but a sudden smell of fresh buns and cakes wafted through her nostrils making her head turn. It has been weeks since her last trip to Sugercube corner, she knew she couldn't get anything due to her lack of money but she couldn't stop herself following the smell of the warm treats.
Before she could stop herself she was standing in front of the sweet and cake shop, peering through the window she saw twelve, no fifteen cakes sat in the glass display.
Behind the counter was a pink skinned woman with the bounciest hair you'd ever see. She wore an apron with 3 different coloured balloons on and her face had some batter that had now dried and cracked along her cheek. looking along the cabinet some more she saw the holy grail. There perched at the end of the glass unit was a free sample bowl with a festive Christmas tree cookie in it.
Instantly moving into the store she made her way over to the counter where she was welcomed by Pinkie. "Heya Scootaloo, you here for some more delicious cakes?" Not wanting to make eye content and allow her to see the pain in her eyes she shook her head.
"I was kind of wondering if I could try that cookie over there in that bowl." She pointed out the bowl to the pink hared employee.
"It's a free sample silly, if you want it you just take it." Grabbing the bowl she moved it down to Scootaloo's level and allowed her to grab it.
Taking a bite out of the tasty treat she hummed her approval of the snack and quickly made light work of her biggest meal of the week. "Pinkie that was delicious," she started "is it all your own making?"
"Yep all from the mind of the crazy baker who lives in the bakery," flashing a small smile to the younger girl she continued "and takes people out of the blue and bakes them into treats." Finishing the last part with an entirely strait face Pinkie broke after a few seconds much to the delight of Scootaloo.
"Haha no that's silly. Although it would make a great book." Smiling at her own joke pinkie asked "anything else scoots or that it kiddo?"
"No just wanted to try that thanks, also Pinkie you've got some cake batter on your face." She flashed a smile as she turned to leave spotting the clock on the wall.
It was 11:47.
She had about 10 minutes to make it all the way across town to put the covers on her house before the bin men came and took it all away.
Bolting out of the door of the shop she slammed into a lamp post and hurt her bad arm even more than it was with blood now running down it. Ignoring the pain form her arm she carried on not stopping for anything. As she passed Canterlot high she saw the time was now 11:54, "shit why am I so slow," looking down at her barely functioning body she understood "damn this cursed body, if I don't make this then I won't have food and I'll.. " She daren't finish the sentence, not wanting to think about the much too real threat at the moment as she rounded one of the last corners on her trip.
Throughout the race back to her house a small flurry of snow had started and now it was getting bad, her visibility was only a few feet and she could no longer feel the ends of her nose but she knew she had to make it home fast.
After another minute of running down the back roads of Canterlot she knew she was only a few blocks away. Spotting a store front she knew she was almost at the alley way when she realised that she was on the wrong side of the street. Due to the bad weather that had started up she couldn't see if anything was coming until the last second but she knew she had to make it across. Taking a gamble that the roads were clear she made a break for it. The first side of the road caused no issues with cars but as she passed over the second half of the road lights caught her eyes as she turned her head just in time to see a faded red truck hit her out of nowhere and sent her flying over the bonnet.
As she laid spread out on the road she could see the darkness creeping in form the corner of her eyes, the cold feeling of asphalt was unmistakeable on her back and she was pretty sure her arm was broken as it lay at an un natural position. fighting out words she knew would be her last she muttered "I tried to be brave Rainbow, I really did try." The last of the sentence barely a whisper. As the darkness finally took her the last thing she saw was a golden lock of hair and a Stetson upon her head.
Author's Note
Please feel free to give your opinion of this chapter as all advice or criticism is welcome.
Also any help on grammar spelling or punctuation would be welcomed as well other than that hope you enjoyed.