Beggar Gold is lying on his bed (made of the exotic cardboard!) as he starts to wake up from his dreams of luxury. For practical purposes, Beggar does not own a blanket to cover himself, mainly because it annoys him... But also because he can never find one not coated in slime. He starts to get out of his bed, making sure not to rip off the moldy pieces that are stuck to him, groaning through his broken, yellow toothed mouth. With Beggar Gold in the right light, somepony could see him as a normal, clean, brown pony... except that light doesn't exist. Beggar is one of those bums that hold out cups for money, but never gets any. His stained, brown coat is not the true color of his coat, but he has not seen its real color for so long he has forgotten what it looks like. He has no memory of ever getting his cutie mark either, making him even more of a bum than before.
He is broke, in both memory and money, but he doesn't know why.
Beggar takes some water from the puddle he called a sink and rubs his teeth with it, hoping to replace the taste of failure with the taste of muck and grime. He frowns as he sees a small frog in his puddle. "Kero-Kero" the frog went. With great speed, Beggar kills the frog with his hoof from above. The sound of the frog mushing pleased Beggar, making him smile the smile of failure.
"Dinner is served..."
After an interesting dinner, Beggar wipes his mouth with a stolen cloth from the small grape farm/store nearby, smiling. He scans the area around him again, making sure nopony was here to see him.
The two tall buildings that he lived between were still there, providing some shelter against the elements, and the random dumpsters and rats were, as always, strewn about the place. "Squeak," goes one rat, seeming to find something in the dumpster of the tallest building of the two, the Hoofington Post National Tower, and a lighter "Squeak" is heard in the dumpster of the smaller building, the police department. Beggar quickly rises from where he was, running towards the H.P.N.T.'s dumpster. He opens up the dumpster, moldy and rotten with age, and starts looking for the rat.
After about a minute or two of searching, he finds the rat in a recyclable bag with a sheet of paper. Looking at he rat first, he sees a weird fungus growing on the side of it... Gold is allergic to fungi. Frustrated of not finding a perfect meal, he grabs and tosses the rat away, leaving behind the sheet of paper. Curious, he grabs the paper, cautious with not damaging it in any way.
The paper was thin, meaning it must have been printed by the government. Knowing this, Beggar is shocked to see what is printed on this paper.
The paper showed a silhouette of a unicorn pony, with small describing words underneath reading, 'An unknown unicorn, likely female, has broken into Equestria First Bank, stealing 40 tons of gold in the process. Any ideas of her whereabouts will--' and the rest was stained and faded beyond recognition.
"A unicorn female...?" Beggar says, smiling even wider.
Unicorns are rare around these parts because of the racial prejudice against them in this town. There are very few unicorns around here and all of them are rich or a guard... and most of them are male.
Beggar then frowns after realizing that this may be a false claim by a racist pony. He sighs, crumbling up the paper, and does his daily routine of searching through the trash.He starts to dig through the dumpster, throwing unneeded things beside him.
After a few hours of finding no free food, he hits a hard bag. "Ow!~" He went, grasping his hurt hoof. He grabs the hard bag, hoping to find some pots and pans he could sell.
Searching through the bag, he sees a shiny glint from the sun, and quickly closes it. He puts the bag into his 'chest' of cardboard and lays down on his bed. His eyes are wide open, his grin slowly growing. Before going to sleep, he grabs the stolen cloth and puts it over his face, while silently screaming one thing before falling into a deep slumber.
"I'm rich!"
*Klick-clack* pounded against the floor of the alleyway Beggar calls home. he opens his eyes ever-so slightly as to see in the direction of the sound. Through the small crack in his tired eyes, he sees a red, pony-shaped blur trot up to the H.P.N.T.'s dumpster, rummaging its hands throughout the interior of it when it gets there. Confuzzled, he opens his eyes, and sees that the blur also had a slim shape, but was still more fed than he was.
*Klick-klack*
The blur looks at him, making feel odd. Does Beggar owe that thing money, too?
"H-- Y-- oo?" was all of what Beggar heard from the blur, a large well of wax in Beggar's ear. Beggar concentrates to listen, waiting for a repeat.
"Hey you!" The blur said again, its voice sounding very light-hearted,yet dreadful.
"Yes, Govna'?" Beggar said to the blur, rubbing his eyes to clarify the area.
In front of him, he saw a beautiful unicorn mare with a scowl upon her face. He blinks a few times, thinking of reasons why she was here. Then, it hit him. 'This was the thief, or is a supposed thief, and the gold I have is what was stolen!' he thought, his mouth going agape.
"Why do you have my gold?" She said authoritatively, looking at his sorry excuse for a body.
He looks over to the bag, seeing it was wide open (probably from the side-ways wind) and made a scowl himself.
"Before I give it to you, can I ask a question?" he says, staring at her with the eyes of a pauper.
She scoffs and replies, "Sure, but you better hoof it over."
"I am no racist, but is it true that you stole this?" he asked earnestly, no hostility in his voice.
She stares at him, a grin of annoyance on her face, "Yes."
He smiles back, getting up. He goes to the bag of gold, hoofing it over to the mare. The mare stares at him, blinking.
"W-why are you," her eyes start to waver, "giving this without any fight?"
Beggar Gold just looks at the mare with his eyes of true sorrow, staring directly into her own eyes, seeing something behind them.
"Because, I know what you have been through, Lady Bountiful." He said to her
She stared at him, "How does a pauper like you know my name and my struggles!?" she slightly yelled.
"I live right next door to the news facility, so I have seen many newspapers about your loss."
"How can you know how it feels to lose some--" she said, tears evident in her eyes.
"You lost the only being you love, never being able to get him again, and I have lost the only thing that I loved, hoping it would someday return."
She started tearing up, mascara smearing below her eyelids, "Letting a pauper like you see me cry..."
He looked at her, "Take the gold and go. Do not go down Path 98, for I saw many undercover guards there, and be silent."
"Why are you helping me?" she said, sniffling, "I mean, I am a thief!"
He stares at her intently, "I am but a pauper, you need not know of what I am or think, for you are a kind soul." He turns around, heading back to his bed, "Now, just let a lone pauper die slowly..."
"No!" she says, but then corrects herself,"I mean... I cannot go alone. I know nothing of the alleys!"
"... What are you saying?" He asked, turning his head back to Lady Bountiful.
She moves her hoof, hitting the ground slightly, "Will you run with me and protect me, pauper?"
Beggar Gold has seen many things in his life; Murder in alleyways, rape, theft, and other such things, but he never helped... but he felt like helping this lady, for she has lost something equal to what he has lost...
And because he had grown tired of living in that dump. The place may have been where he lived for awhile, but he might as well leave before he dies here as well.
"..." he looks inside one of his 'chests'.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"I'm moving," he says with a smile on his muzzle, " to wherever we end up."
She nods her head with a "Hmpf" of approval, "We should go immediately, for it is already getting dark."
He looks up, and indeed, it was nearing night-time. He smiles, grabbing the one item that he has always taken with him.
A necklace.
"What is that?" She said, looking at his necklace.
"This is the only thing left of what I lost." Beggar said very stallionly.
Lady Bountiful giggles, "So, I guess we are ready to depart?"
With a slight sigh, Beggar says, "Do not be so cheerful. After we leave this place, I will go on my own to find someone I once knew..."
A slight silence enveloped them, making the atmosphere a bit tenser, Lady figuring out that this is serious.
With a nod of approval, Beggar moves slowly down his alleyway, and into his first step of the journey.
He steps on an old newspaper, the date being smudged out, along the way...
Hoofington Post: Breaking News!
At 5:00 am, today, we will remember those we have lost, the people who built this town, and other historical ponies. Right now, however, we will celebrate the anniversary of the death of the unicorn terrorist, Sir Bountiful. This stallion was a confound lunatic, believing that unicorn magic had any reason to be in this town, bringing many unicorns to this town, and trying to make them replace our hard-working, earth ponies in many different kind of jobs. Though nopony knows who killed him, nopony cares either! Unicorns are evil, immoral, and use the power of Tartarus to dispose of anything they see fit. These ponies, excluding a few, are born with the eyes of Hades himself. They, and their flying demons, pegasi, are the main reason of greed and death in this world. They must all be stopped at all costs!
Earth Ponies, FOREVER!
Spo- (The rest of the paper is submerged in the sink)