Window Shopping and Other Hobbies for the Homeless

Misfit pressed her hooves up against the blue-tinted window. She had to squint to able to see through it clearly, especially with the thin wave of snow drifting down from the pegasus-controlled skies. There was a single thing she was looking at: The Marigold Meringue. It was a yellow-colored cake with and even yellower inside. The frosting was so whipped it almost looked fluffy, and orange halos of soft icing surrounded the top, middle, and bottom. There were sugar-petals speckled across both the top and sides, and one huge orange-golden marigold flower in the middle of the frosting. Finally, inside, where you couldn't see, was a creamy layer of custardy meringue. Usually cakes and pies had meringue on the top, but this cake was different. So different, in fact, and special, that the owners of the bakery only had it out to sell once a month. If only she could just a slice, just a bite, just a taste.

And she could. She had saved up to get her own slice. Now, the cake wasn't that expensive, actually, but it was to a pony like her. She had a lot more important things she had to buy and save up for, like food and winter clothes and potion supplies. But she was giving herself a treat. She absolutely adored this recipe, in fact, it meant a lot to her, and it had been way too long since she's had it last.

Misfit trotted into the bakery, a bell tinkling on the door handle as she entered. She grinned shyly at the stallion that was watching the register, but he didn't see her. Pulling out a small bag of bits, the filly cleared her throat, alerting the stallion of her presence. At first, he looked surprised, than glared at her. "What do you want, street-rat?" He grunted aggressively. She wasn't surprised by this reaction to her, which was kinda sad. But that wasn't important. Nothing was going to ruin this cake! "I'd like to buy a slice of y-your Marigold M-meringue, sir." "Is that so?" He said almost mockingly. This wasn't a very nice pony. "Y-yes! I have the bits, see?"  She said evenly, glancing at her pouch of bits. He looked down. "Oh, I see. I see very well. In fact, I can clearly see that these bits are stolen. Where else would you get them? Are you trying to trick me, pick-pocket? I can't go and let a scroungy foal like you to buy our ware with stolen bits. Are you trying to get me fired?!" He said, his voice growing higher and higher in volume. Before Misfit could say anything, he was shouting at her, kicking her out the bakery with a swift swing of his hooves.

Misfit sat there for a moment in the snow, stunned. Then she shook her head, and went back to looking at the piece of cake through the window, rubbing her bruised arm.

(OOC: A thread for Mc! ...I...I got a little carried away with this post. I promise they won't be as long in the future, I just have really long starter posts. So don't feel obliged to have to make a really long response or anything. Ehhye, I'm sorry.)

(We all have long openings, don't worry.)

Sandy walked through the streets of manehatten, the lights and decorations bedazzling him. He'd never been to manehatten before, but his dad had grown up here and they were visiting his side of the family. Normally they visited his mom's side but they had decided he was old enough to walk around the big city. He was 13, of course he could handle himself. He saw a bakery and his eyes lit up- maybe he'd get some chocolate cake! He was already getting hungry. He trotted in and waited in line to get his food.

The Counter stallion suddenly started yelling at a filly about Sandy's age. Listening, Sandy guessed that he was just being mean- the filly seemed to be trying to be nice. She was thrown out, and Sandy could feel his blood boiling at the sight. He quickly dashed out and gtabbed the money the filly was trying to use to buy her food. He waited in line again and was quickly at the front.

"Well what would you like, Little Buddy?" Asked the stallion at the counter.
"Could I have a big slice of the marigold meringue and a really hot pie please?" Sandy asked in his sweetest voice.
"Right-O."

The stallion gave Sandy a nice big slice of the meringue and the pie was steaming hot. This was perfect.

"Hey, Mister? I have a Hearth's-Warming gift for you!"
"D'awww, what is it little fella?"

Instantly a steaming hot pie was burning his face. The guy yelled in suprise and pain, feeling about to get it off. Eventually he did but a lot of his fur had burned black. He angrily searched for that colt but saw no sign, aside from a note on the counter saying "Hearth's Warming spirit seems high here, eh?".

Outside, Sandy gave the filly her meringue and happily introduced himself.

"Hi! I'm Sandy Hooves. What's your name?"

He could barely contain his giggles of satisfaction.

Misfit almost grabbed out when she saw the colt take her bits that had been thrown out with her. She knew she should've picked them up immediately. Now they were gone. But she realized it didn't really matter. If a colt was to take a filly's bits, than they would have to be a street-foal like herself. And if that was the case, she didn't really mind. We all had to survive. In fact, she was probably being selfish, using her bits for cake... but...

She then watched as the same colt dashed through the door to the left of her, the one to the bakery she had just been in. Misfit pressed her face close to the glass, but her hot breath was fogging it up. She wiped a circle clear with her hoof-sleeve, then peered in. He.... He was buying a Marigold Meringue? But why? Surely he wasn't doing it for her... surely... she then watched as he bought an entire pie. Ah. He was probably just getting them for himself. But an entire pie? Maybe... maybe he had sibling or other street-foals to look after. Then she would definitely be fine with him taking her bits. In fact, she'd be glad. She still really, really, really wanted that cake... but maybe it was for the best. She couldn't get spoiled.

Misfit then watched as the yellow colt planted the hot pie onto the mean stallion's face. Her eyes went wide, and she giggled out loud, stifling her laughter with a hoof before somepony heard her. In fact, she had to duck down from the window to make sure that the customers didn't see her. Now she definitely didn't regret the use of her bits. While she didn't like revenge or anything like that, she had to give thanks for some karma. She laughed one more time, then sighed. She would have to get going, in case that stallion comes out and sees her...

Suddenly, she heard a pony behind her. She jumped, looking back behind her. But instead of an angry stallion, there was the yellow colt, smiling with the Marigold Meringue slice between his hooves. He thrust it into her own hooves, and she stared at him in amazement as he introduced himself.

"I... Uhm, y-you can call me Misfit, if you want! N-nice to meet you!" She quickly replied. "Aye... uhm... is... is this for me?" She asked, looking at the cake, then back at Sandy.

(I did a long post again. I'm sorry I'll try to stop)

Sandy tilted his head. How couldn't it be for her?

"Yup. You wanted to buy it and he wouldn't let you. I didn't like that so I bought it for you. The pie was more for giggles," he said whilst giggling.

Sandy properly observed this filly. She looked pretty dirty and shy- strange. He liked her though- she seemed kind enough, albeit having no self esteem whatsoever. He liked her hat though- nice little pattern. Sandy pulled out a slice of chocolate cake he had swiped on the way out and commenced to eat it. Or at least he would've if the stallion from the shop hadn't dashed out and saw them, roaring in predujiced and arguably justifiable rage. Sandy grabbed Misfit's hoof and galloped off. Mr shop owner gave chase but being the useless fat cake scoffing git he was the two adolescent foals outran him easily. Sandy sat down in an alley, still sniggering.

"That was fun! He's too fat to even get through the alley!"

He fell over laughing at the thought of all the fat squeezing like a balloon against the alley walls. After calming down a little he took out the stolen cake and ate it, checking the meringue was still fine for Misfit.

"Ah... you saw that..." Misfit looked down, then back at Sandy. "You know, i-it was incredibly nice for you to do that. Most p-ponies would just ignore me..." She then watched as the colt brought out a plate of chocolate cake. She hadn't seen him buy it... though, he technically didn't get to eat his pie he had ordered, so it wasn't a big deal. Besides, when had she ever cared about somepony snitching a little food on the way out? If she did, she would be the city's biggest hypocrite. Misfit giggled along with Sandy. "I still can't believe you did that! I-I mean.... th-that look on his face!" She laughed. "I-I think it s-serves him right, r-"

She was interrupted by the same stallion they were speaking about, who was bursting out the door, yelling at them. Misfit stashed the cake, but before she could start running, Sandy had already taken her hoof, and they were off. She was only worried at the very beginning that he might catch them, but soon came to realize that he was, in fact, an overweight slow-poke. Now, if she was alone and didn't have to be following the pace of a colt, she would have jumped up on one of the rafters by now and climbed onto a roof. But seeing how she wasn't alone, she continued to run with Sandy, galloping close behind him. They easily out-ran the stallion, who after less than a minute began to pant like a dying dog, and finally stopped to scream at them as they ran further.

Misfit tried to hold back her laughter. "You know... it isn't nice to make f-fun of... snrk... overweight p-phhhhfft!" She tried to muffle herself with a hoof, but it just ended up making her laugh louder. They both calmed down at some point and took out their prizes. She still couldn't believe she could finally eat it again... it had been so long. She was about to take a bite when she realized where they were. Why hadn't she realized it earlier that they were headed for it? She scanned the familiar walls with her eyes, then pin-pointed them onto a cardboard box. It seemed like any old thrown away box, but that's what it was supposed to look like. "Oh! Oh, t-this is my alley!" She exclaimed. Setting the cake down carefully, making sure it was kept in perfect condition, she pointed and trotted over to the box. "See? T-this is my box!"

(Finally got some bloody free time. Sorry for ze waitsies!)

Sandy at first wasn't paying attention- that crazed, hungry look he got around chocolate was already in place. He ate it in just a few seconds. Even if it was just a slice, it was a big one. Cuteness and predujice oft brought middle-class colts food. After Sandy finished, licking the chocolate off his lips, he looked at Misfit's box. He grinned, and was about to pounce and play in it. However he was held up by a thought- if he damaged it he'd be destroying somepony's home, more specifically his new friend's. He therefore just prodded it curiously with his hoof.

"But don't you get cold? I don't think this place is too good for keeping the cold out. And what about gangs? Has anypony ever tried to hurt you?"

Sandy was already having his secondary stage of making a friend- worry. He loved protecting his pals so he didn't cope well with the idea of them being hurt.

(Aw, it's fine! No need to stress or worry yourself with it.)

For a moment Misfit thought he was going to practically start wrestling with the box, but it relieved her that he didn't. If he broke the box... well, she'd have to find a new one, of course. Which wasn't that bad, she supposed, but it can be awfully hard finding a perfect box for a home, you know. The walls can't be too flimsy or too easily water-logged, but it they're too thick then they're uncomfortable and get brittle in the cold weather. Still, she had to find a new box every couple weeks, and sooner than that in the wet or snowy seasons. In fact... hers was starting to get just a little damp. Just a tiny bit, since she cleared the snow away from it whenever it fell near, but in a couple days, she'd have to go out box-hunting.

Misfit looked down at the ground when Sandy asked his question. She was touched that the colt actually cared about that. He really was a kind pony."I'm alright! Really!" She answered "I mean, I suppose it s-sometimes gets a little ch-chilly, but it's really not that b-" She stopped talking, holding her hoof to her nose as she suppressed a sneeze. She smiled sheepishly. "...Ah. No, but really, I'm g-good! And gangs usually leave me alone. I mean, e-every so often I might get r-roughed up a little bit, but I'm a lot quicker than them, s-see? Besides... local gangs know to steer clear of m-me, since when I get upset or sc-scared or angry I can tend to get a little-"

The filly stopped again, trying to hold back another sneeze. However, it was to no use. She turned her head at the last second, 'achoo-ing' loudly. However, this was no ordinary sneeze. A burst of gray smoke came out, as well as a small group of yellow sparks. Her ears lowered, and she blushed, trying to cover her entire face with her hooves in embarrassment. "...firey..."

"I'm so s-sorry about that! It's starting to happen a lot, e-especially with all the winter nips going around... Aw, that was s-so embarrassing!" She mumbled between her hooves, her face getting redder and redder. At least she didn't set Sandy or the cake on fire.