Shining Snow
White snow covered the streets and crunched beneath the trotting hooves on the sidewalk. Even on a snowy day such as today, the streets of Manehatten were still filled with colorful bodies of all kinds. Most were hidden by thick woolen sweaters and hats. Some ponies even wore woolen slippers on their hooves to keep them protected from the freezing snow. Unlike in Canterlot, where one could go bare, here the chilled wind of winter would bite into anypony unprotected. Still, unprotected features such as heads, manes and tails provided a chromatic contrast to the bleak whiteness of the snow on the ground.
The pegasus scanned the crowd as he walked. He liked to do this sometimes, just absentmindedly observe everything around him and try to view it from an outsider’s perspective. It gave him something to do during the periods of time where nothing interesting was happening.
As he looked, he noticed many different types of moods ponies were in. Some were laughing with their friends, walking together with a cheerful demeanour amongst themselves. Maybe they were coming home from a good time at a party.
He passed a restaurant now, and as he did he switched his attention to the ponies sitting at the outdoor tables. There were a few couples having meals together. Some were just talking to one another, no doubt enjoying the pleasant time they were sharing with each other. One particular couple was embraced in a passionate round of kissing. The pegasus blushed and looked ahead. Maybe one day he would find somepony to do that sort of thing with.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He didn’t want to think about such things right now. He refocused his attention on the ponies on the street. Most of them wore neutral expressions; neither happy nor sad. Perhaps they were eager to get home and relax after a hard day of work, or internally dreading a coming shift.
There were a few, however, that resonated deep within him. His face turned to a sad frown the moment he laid eyes on one. These were the ones who were sad, depressed. Their heads were down, ears lowered. Some of them were dirty. Probably poor. Ponies who lost their jobs, or couldn’t find one to begin with. They were fighting a constant battle of survival, barely scraping enough money together to feed themselves for a day. And nopony cared enough to help them. They were like invisible flies to other ponies. They buzz around for a few seconds and annoy you, you swat them away, and then you forget about them.
He wished he could help. He had the money; he was considerably wealthy. He could support them. Some of them. But there were too many to give all of them enough money to get them an apartment and food. Too many to make happy; too many to save.
Together, they could do it. If all the ponies in Manehatten pitched in some money, they could support the unfortunate. But no, they would rather ignore the problem.
So he did what any other pony would do. He closed his eyes and forgot about them. He could not help them, and thinking about it would just make him depressed about it as well. He walked forward with a blank mind for a time as he lost track of time. Five minutes or ten — it didn’t matter to him. Even though he dreaded his destination, all he wanted right now was to be there already, so he wouldn’t have to see these ponies huddled in small side streets, suffering.
The tall building where his meeting was to be held loomed over the city. It wasn’t far now; just a few blocks. He stopped at an intersection and looked at the street signs for the correct way to take. The receptionist at the hotel had told him to take Hoover Street, which was on the other side of the street he was currently on. He turned to the crosswalk and waited for the pedestrian signal to light up.
As he looked across the street, off to the left he caught a glimpse of a pony-shaped form on a wooden bench, covered with a dark grey blanket. He promptly looked straight away. He promised himself he wouldn’t get dragged down to depression by things he couldn’t help. The signal finally changed, and he walked across the street with several other ponies. All the while he was forcing himself to keep his eyes straight. When he got to the other side, he gave in for but a moment, and cast a glance at the bench.
He could see now: it was just a small filly. She didn’t look more than seven or eight years old. The blanket obscured his view to determine whether or not she even had a cutie mark, but if he were to venture a guess, he would say it was very unlikely.
It didn’t matter though. No matter how old she was, he couldn’t help her. He would feel too guilty helping only one pony while leaving all the others out here to starve. He turned to walk down the street to his destination.
Instead, he just stayed there, frozen. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t abandon a little homeless filly. He sighed as he cursed his conscious.
He turned around and briskly walked to the bench the filly was laying on. He stared down at her, observing her from a distance. She was facing away from him, towards to back of the bench. Her coat was the lightest, most delicate shade of green he had ever seen. Her mane was a much darker, richer shade of green, and it had lighter blonde highlights streaking through it.
“Excuse me,” he spoke softly.
There was no response. A tendril of worry gripped him. Was he too late? Did this filly already freeze to death out here, with nothing but this thin blanket separating her from the harsh winter chill? He lifted a snow covered hoof with a sense of apprehension, biting his lip as he moved to see if she was still alive.
He gently tapped her on the back of the head.
“Aahh!”
He jumped back in shock as the filly screamed in panic. She turned around in a flurry, knocking the blanket off the bench as she pressed herself as far back from her supposed attacker as she could manage.
“What do you want?! Please, don’t hurt us! I’ll do anything you want, just please don’t hurt us!”
The filly’s voice was hoarse and scratchy, as if parched dry for far too long.
The pegasus took a moment to reply. “Us?”
She said nothing, but the stallion now noticed that there was a second pony with her. She was protecting her, her forelegs outstretched in a protective gesture over the even smaller pony hiding behind her. She didn’t even look like a filly; she was a baby. She couldn’t have been more than one year old.
“Please,” the filly repeated.
The stallion sighed. “Listen, I don’t want to hurt you. I want to help. How long have you been like this?”
“Help?”
“Yes,” he nodded. “Give you some bits, maybe some food and a place to sleep for the night?”
The filly looked confused at this, like she didn’t know why somepony would do such a thing.
“Why do you care?”
“I don’t know. I don’t really have a reason. I guess I just can’t stand the sight of ponies suffering. Just...” He slowly moved to the side of the bench and sat on his haunches. “I just want to help.”
“Nopony ever cares. Most are mean, as if they wished we didn’t exist at all.”
“I know.”
The filly was silent. She looked down to the bench, as if she was contemplating something.
“About a year,” she finally replied.
“What?” The stallion was confused.
“That’s what you were asking, right? How long have we’ve been homeless?”
“Yeah.”
“About a year.”
“Do you... want to tell me what happened to your parents?”
The filly finally relaxed her protective pose. She slumped against the back of the bench and picked up her younger sister and held her close. She struggled with her magic to lift up the blanket, finally managing it and wrapping the little yellow foal in a tight embrace. She then shook her head no, a sad frown on her muzzle.
The pegasus looked at the clock tower over his shoulder. He was going to miss his presentation. It was an important presentation; the top ponies in his field would be there, gathered from all over Equestria.
He sighed, and looked to the filly and the foal. He couldn’t abandon them. He didn’t need those ponies’ approval anyways. He already had a career and more than enough money. He didn’t need to be a big wig. These two ponies’ lives were more important than that.
“Come on,” he said with his voice barely a whisper. “Let’s get you out of the cold. We can sort things out at my hotel.”
The filly hesitated at first, but then got up off the bench. She struggled to encase her sister in her magical aura, her horn sparkling and the aura flickering a few times before she finally got hold and brought her close to her body.
“Are you sure you won’t drop her?” the pegasus asked.
“No, it’s only getting it started that’s tricky. Once I have something in my grip I can hold it with no problem.”
The stallion nodded in acknowledgement, and they began walking the way he had originally come from.
In general, the walk was uneventful. The ponies didn’t talk to each other, and each kept to their own thoughts. The filly with the foal walked slightly behind the pegasus, letting him lead her to the hotel.
When they arrived, they took the elevator up to his room. The hallway was decorated in an attempt to make it feel homey, with warm brown and beige colors for the carpets and a dark hardwood floor polished to a shine with several coffee tables made out of similar wood placed along the walls. The coffee tables occasionally had a vase on them with several different kinds of flowers placed inside.
The pegasus unlocked the door to his hotel room, and stepped in with the fillies. The room was pretty basic: the walls were painted a simple white, and a white plush carpet covered the whole of the floor. Straight ahead was the bedroom, which contained a single double sized bed. Immediately to the right of the door with the bathroom, which was little more than a small rectangular room with a linoleum floor with a single sink, toilet, and bathtub.
“You fillies are pretty dirty, so why don’t you go take a bath while I get you some food?”
The filly nodded and entered the bathroom, closing the door behind her. The stallion moved forth into the bedroom. The bed had a red woolen comforter on it with white and black patterns sewn into it. Two white pillows, like was common for double beds, lay at the top and were propped up against the headboard.
Beside the headboard stood a small bedside table, made out of light oak wood. The table had two drawers on its face, and a phone on its surface. The stallion picked it up and ordered some room service for the fillies. When he was done, he sat down on the bed to wait.
A few minutes passed, and a knock came at the door. The stallion moved to answer it and was met with a pony wearing the hotel’s red and gold striped uniform, with a metal cart of food beside him.
“That will be 20 bits, sir,” the bellboy said.
The pegasus pulled the money from his pocket and presented it to the colt.
“Thank you. Here is your food,” he said as he took took the platter onto his front hooves.
The pegasus moved to the side to allow him to pass through, and he placed the platter on the bed. As he was walking out, he stopped at the closed bathroom door.
“Who’s in there?”
“Just two friends.”
“Sir, this room is only registered to one pony. You’re going to have to pay extra if you wish to have any more stay with you.”
“How much?”
“A hundred bits.”
“A hundred bits?! But this room is only thirty bits per night per pony, it should be sixty bits!”
“A hundred bits sir, or I will be forced to have you removed for sneaking other ponies into your room and paying for only one.”
The pegasus thought for a few minutes. He did not want to give in to bribery, but he also did not want to get evicted. He came to a compromising conclusion.
“We’re only going to be here for half an hour, then we’re gone, okay?”
“Sir, it doesn’t matter how long you’re here for, you have to pay for the full day.”
The pegasus leaned in close to the other pony.
“Listen, I’m trying to help a homeless filly and her baby sister. Please, just give us half an hour and we’ll be gone, okay?”
The bellboy thought for a moment. “Fine,” he said reluctantly. “If you’re not gone in half an hour, I’ll have you arrested.”
“Thank you.”
The bellboy left. The pegasus undid his coat and warm clothes and hung them up on a row of hooks situated beside the door. He then made his way back to the bed, climbing onto it and laying down. The fuzz of the woolen comforter tickled his legs as he tucked them beneath himself. He simply rested his head, too weary to think about anything in particular.
A few minutes later the bathroom door creaked open as the filly stepped out, the baby once again riding on her back. With the dirt and grime and of their struggles washed away they actually looked like completely different ponies.
“So, what are your names?”
“I’m Silver Thread,” the older one said. “And this is Golden Thread.”
Silver clambered up onto the bed in order to join the older pony, sitting before the silver platter and staring at it with shining eyes. She looked up and stared at the pegasus, almost unwilling to believe she could actually partake in the food. He simply nodded, and that was all the assurance she needed to ravenously dig in before remembering her little sister and gently feeding her as well.
The pegasus’ mind wandered as he watched the two girls eat. This simple act made him feel... warm. His mind still prodded him, and he wanted to know what parents would be so heartless so as to abandon two little fillies like this. He wanted to know what exactly brought these two girls to this point in life.
He cast these thoughts away at the simple sight of their faces. They looked... almost happy, now. Yes; he made a decision. He would not abandon them. He would ask them, and if they wanted to, he would take them in and raise them as his own. He had never had children before, but whatever trouble it brought he would endure, if only to see them happy.
He smiled. Perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps he didn’t need to help everyone. Perhaps what he should have been doing... is helping the ones he could.
He chuckled as Golden squealed after getting cake all over her face. A feeling of joy welled up in his chest as he brought out a napkin and tenderly wiped the little foal’s face with it.
He could tell these two were going to be a handful.