Sunset ignored her stomach telling her to eat as she continued to trot down the alleyway. The best part about Canterlot she learned was it’s easy to be invisible.
It was surprisingly easy, she found out. Canterlot had more orphans than most ponies were willing to admit. She had managed to sneak out of the orphanage she was placed in after deciding she wanted to take care of herself. No rules, no older ponies trying to boss you around. She may be only twelve but she’s quite confident in her abilities to look after her self.
She narrowly avoided getting knocked over by some stallion as Sunset rolled her eyes.
“Watch it!” Sunset snapped as she glared up at the stallion. “Fucking blind ponies. Freaking worst.”
She ignored his startled look and subsequent grumbling as Sunset continued trotting down the street, dodging older ponies.
Sunset stared at the busy market and shrugged. Might as well “buy” some food while she was here.
“How much for some bread?” Sunset asked as she propped her head up on the stand, staring up at a mare.
“Uh six bits,”the mare answered as Sunset made a show of looking around for bits before sighing.
“I’m all out and my sister is hungry back at home. Can’t you just give a young filly some bread for free?” Sunset asked and gave the mare a sad smile with puppy dog eyes.
“I’m sympathetic but I really can’t. I’m sorry,” the mare as Sunset nodded with a sigh.
“Hey, what’s going on over there?” Sunset pointed behind the mare as her horn flashed, shoving a stallion into a stall.
“Oh my stars. Are you okay?” The mare asked as Sunset levitated several bags of bread off the table, galloping away. “Hey! Come back here, thief!”
“In your dreams!”
Sunset trotted down an alley way with a smirk, before setting her stolen items in her saddlebags she had managed to save.
She paused and her ear flicked before her eyes focused on a green unicorn filly crying as Sunset raised an eyebrow. Against her better judgment, she trotted up to the pony and tapped her on the shoulder.
“This alley isn’t the place for a kid,” Sunset commented as the filly spun around. “What are you doing here?”
“I can’t find my parents. Something about me being too much of a hassle with the family name and left,” the filly answered as she looked up at her. “Can you help me find them?”
“Depends. What’s your name?”
“Lyra Heartstrings.”
Sunset tilted her head and bit the inside of her mouth. Everypony knew of the Heartstrings family. They were mainly politicians and business ponies with influence damn near everywhere.
“I have a better idea,” Sunset shrugged and sat down next to the filly. “Are you hungry, Lyra?”
“I was always told to never take food from strangers,” Lyra said warily as Sunset rolled her eyes and wiped Lyra’s tears.
“You asked me for help finding your parents. If I really wanted to hurt you, I would have done so by now. There, you look better with no tears on your face,” Sunset gave a faint smile as Lyra nodded.
“Okay.”
“But we’re not gonna stay here. I have a place but it’s kinda rough and pretty poorly made but it’s home. Come on,” Sunset stood up and waved a hoof. “Are ya coming?”
Lyra paused and looked down to where Sunset waited impatiently before galloping to the bigger unicorn as fast as her tiny hooves could make her.
Smart kid, Sunset mused to herself as she levitated Lyra onto her back.
“How old are you anyway?”
“Seven,” Lyra answered and Sunset grimaced slightly.
“Only a few years younger than me, I see.”
“How old are you?” Lyra asked as she wrapped her hooves around Sunset’s neck, the older pony continuing her trot.
“I just turned twelve. I’ve only been living here on the streets for about a month or so. Left the orphanage to make my own rules and life. There’s so many fillies and colts there, I easily slipped away. Celestia knows if they’re looking for me,” Sunset explained as Lyra nodded. “How about you?”
“Mom and dad said they’d be back in a bit but that was at least several hours ago. I tried looking for them but I found nopony that matched them. I did overhear them arguing about me one night. There’s never a Royal Guard when you need one,” Lyra muttered as Sunset gave a dry laugh.
“Got that right. We’re here,” Sunset said as she looked both ways before slipping through a doorway into a rundown, abandoned house.
“Woah,” Lyra whispered and looked around with wide eyes. “So cool. There has gotta be so many places to hide around here!”
“There is but don’t. I don’t know what shit could be in here,” Sunset warned and set Lyra down before trotting to a make shift kitchen. “Like peanut butter?”
“Love it. It’s the best thing since oxygen. Maybe not since we need that to live but ya know,” Lyra watched as Sunset set down a jar of peanut butter. “How did you buy it?”
“I stole it,” Sunset said bluntly as Lyra gasped.
“Stealing is wrong I was told.”
“It’s how we are gonna survive now. We’re too young to get jobs so I have to steal stuff I need. Food, blankets, wood for the winter when it comes. You get the idea,” Sunset spread some peanut butter on the bread she had stolen. “Idiots never shut off the power here but don’t turn the lights on. We don’t want to bring attention to ourselves. Grape or strawberry jelly?”
“Strawberry please,” Lyra watched as Sunset nodded. “Where are your parents at?”
Sunset paused and squeezed her eyes shut before bitting her lip hard enough to draw blood.
“None of your damn business, that’s where,” Sunset snapped finally and Lyra flinched, folding her ears against her head.
“I’m sorry,” Lyra muttered as she scuffed a hoof on the ground. “Please don’t yell at me again.”
“Sorry, lost my temper for a moment. But to answer your question, they’re gone. I don’t wanna talk about it more Lyra,” Sunset answered as she slid a plate to Lyra. “Eat and I’ll show you where we are gonna sleep tonight.”
“You’re really letting me sleep here?” Lyra asked after taking a bit of her sandwich. “You’re the best at making these sandwiches.”
“Yeah, I am. I’m gonna teach you everything I know. You’re be as self reliant as I can make you,” Sunset answered as Lyra flung her forelegs around her neck and hugged her.
“You’re the best in general Sunny,” Lyra commented and nuzzled Sunset as the older unicorn froze. She hadn’t been called Sunny since her mom and dad had their accident.
“Thanks,” Sunset muttered as she gently pushed Lyra back. “Now finish eating, it’s getting late.”
Sunset turned red as Lyra nuzzled her one more time.
Lyra still wasn’t entirely sure the unicorn was safe but she did get offered food and a safe place to stay.
She can’t be all that bad then. Right?
Sunset escorted Lyra to a dimly lit room with a small bed in the middle with a broken mirror and small bottles of perfume. Lyra assumed it was perfume at least.
“This is where we will we be sleeping,” Sunset announced and gestured to the bed. “Definitely not what you’re used to back home but well, somepony was throwing it out and I saw any opportunity. Ponies throw away perfectly decent furniture and I don’t even know why.”
“You’re sleeping with me?” Lyra gave her a confused look. “Isn’t that a bit weird?”
“This is the only bed and I refuse to sleep on the floor in my own house. So yes, we are sleeping in the same bed. You’re a homeless filly now and this is how we gotta live until our cards change,” Sunset shrugged as she laid down on the bed, wincing slightly. “What, your parents never sleep with you before?”
“They used to,” Lyra admitted as the smaller pony struggled to climb on the bed. Sunset rolled her eyes and offered the filly a hoof. “Mom used to all the time. Dad was a bit more reserved but he did at times too. Mainly when I was sick. Did your parents sleep with you?”
Sunset stared at the ceiling as Lyra got situated, wrapping her green tail around her self. Sunset couldn’t remember the last she had been able to sleep with her parents.
“Yeah, all the time,” Sunset said finally. “In the middle of mom and dad. They really loved me. Kinda annoyed them some nights because they couldn’t sleep with just each other but they never kicked me out.”
“They seem nice,” Lyra commented as Sunset levitated a few blankets over the two.
“They were, yeah,” Sunset answered as she rolled onto her side as Lyra curled next to her and draped a hoof around her side. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Uh laying here?” Lyra said as Sunset glanced at her. “Hold me?”
“No. I’m not your mom, I’m a stranger you just met two and a half hours ago, crying and asking for help. Hug the sheets or something,” Sunset huffed as Lyra gave her the biggest puppy dog eyes Sunset had ever seen.
“Please?”
Sunset sighed as she stared at Lyra’s large gold eyes.
“Fine.”
Lyra gave an excited whinny sound as Sunset laid on her back and the filly crawled onto her stomach, nuzzling Sunset’s chest fur.
“Don’t get used to this,” Sunset warned as Lyra yawned. “The only ponies who ever got to do this with me were my parents.”
Lyra didn’t reply, snoring quietly as Sunset rolled her eyes before levitating the blanket in top of them.
“Goodnight Lyra.”
“So what do you do now as a homeless pony?” Lyra asked as she watched Sunset pour out some cereal into a bowl with wide eyes. The filly strained to see Sunset over the worn out table and kitchen counter. “Do you go to school?”
“No. I either tidy up this place or I steal stuff from ponies to make this place more of a home. Anything I can do to stick it to the richer folks in Canterlot. After all, this town is full for stuck up ponies who view us as stains on society and they just sit on their bits or other items. Better off in our hooves than theirs,” Sunset grunted and pushed the bowl of cereal to Lyra with a spoon. “Now eat. Breakfast is important.”
Lyra nodded and grasped the spoon with her hoof as Sunset watched curiously before levitating her own bowl down and making her breakfast. Most unicorns used magic and Lyra curiously didn’t. She preferred to use her hooves.
“Just because we aren’t going to school doesn’t mean you and I aren’t learning. I got some books we can study. Math, history, science and magic. But my favorite is drawing. I love to draw,” Sunset commented and stirred her cereal. Drawing made Sunset feel more centered around the fast paced Canterlot. She was secretly grateful she wasn’t homeless in a city like Manehatten.
Sunset was fairly certain she would be drove up the wall in that city. She never really cared much for big cities. Canterlot was the perfect middle for her. Not too chaotic and not too hick like some farm towns. Like the town she could occasionally see from Canterlot in the distance.
“You draw?” Lyra asked and Sunset nodded smugly. “Can I see?”
“Later. Now eat. We have magic to do and more. To be successful ponies, you have to know the past of where you come from. And math is always a decent skill,” Sunset chewed for a few moments. “I gotta teach you how to steal too.”
“Stealing is bad.”
“And we need to survive too,” Sunset shot back. “I was raised theft is wrong too but all I have is me and you now too. This is how we make it in a world that doesn’t give a damn about us. So we have to force the world to care.”
Lyra stared for a few seconds before nodding. Sunset had a scary good way with words, the younger and shorter filly began to realize.
“I prefer to use my hooves.”
“That’s all fine and dandy but you are a unicorn. We were born for magic. Each tribe has a role in Equestria. Pegasus with the weather, earth ponies with the farms and us? We are the best at keeping each tribe safe and in line. Sure, pegasi can use weather as a weapon and earth ponies are impressively strong but none can hold a candle to a unicorn who can cast a decent spell.”
“And we’re gonna what, target random ponies?” Lyra asked worriedly and Sunset laughed.
“Of course not. We’re homeless, not monsters. We don’t harm our fellow ponies. But we are gonna screw with the Royal Guard outpost. They always have good stuff. Bits and okayish foods. Sometimes they have the armory unlocked on accident. But that comes later once we get you up to speed, Lyra.”
Lyra was pleasantly surprised that Sunset wasn't a racist pony who hated the other tribes. She knew a few unicorns like that.
Lyra didn’t normally hate, but she certainly hated those unicorns. Gave them all a bad name in her eyes.
