A cruel hand grabbed the cardboard box full of fluffies; a mare and 2 foals, and coldly tossed it into the street.
“Get outta here, ya bums. I’m not paying for you whiny freeloaders anymore! Go find your own sketty!” The man jeered as he left the box by the trashcan in the street.
“Huhuhu!” Cried Daisy the mare, a white and yellow unicorn. She wondered why something like lack of money could make a man so cruel. She would give him money if she had some! She had seen the coins and bills before and understood their value to humans. If only she could get some of her own!
She held her two babies tight; a brown earthy male and a pink and green pegasus female. Their names were Chip and Lolly, and they were all their mother had left.
But Daisy would not give up so easily. She knew she had to protect her babies from the harsh city streets. She pushed the cardboard box they trembled in until it was safely tucked away in an alleyway by a dumpster. She then climbed up a stack of pallets next to the dumpster and made her way inside to find food. Luckily for her, the store that owned the dumpster was a general store that had plenty of food to throw out after it had expired. There was lots of good nummies to be found!
She brought some stale bread over to her cardboard nestie, now turned on its side for protection from the rain, and shared it with her babies. They ate it happily, not even caring that it was stale.
Soon they were greeted by another wandering fluffy, starving on the streets. He was a brown earthy stallion named Rufus that hadn’t eaten for days. He begged them for some food, and the Daisy got an idea.
“Bwing me dis.” She said, pointing to a penny she had collected while dumpster diving. “Bwing me dis and other monies and I gib you nummies!”
Rufus shortly returned with a few pennies he got off the streets and she gave him some stale bread. Soon the gears in her little head began to turn.
“Spwead the word.” She said to the stallion. “Tew ovew fwuffs to bwing monies hewe and dey get nummies. Dis be DAISY’S AWWEYWAY! And hewe, fwuffies can be safe and have nummies as wong as dey being monies.”
Soon Rufus returned. He had come up with an idea too. He met a homeless man that gave him some pennies just for bringing him metal cans! He had gathered metal cans for him all day and got lots of pennies! He gave them to Diasy and asked if he could live with her. Daisy was already prepared for this.
She pointed to a box shelter similar to her own that was parked nextdoor to hers. “Dis your new housie.” She explained. “As wong as you keep bwinging monies, you can stay hew wif us and get nummies.”
Rufus was overjoyed and celebrated with his new friends by eating some more bread together.
This kept going for a few days until they had a whole can filled with pennies and other small change. The grocery store had lots of empty cans to give to Rufus which he exchanged for money from the homeless man who was turning them in for a profit. Even though it was just a few pennies per can, it added up fast!
Meanwhile, Chip and Lolly wondered how they could help. They felt bad eating bread for free, so they decided to push their own can out to the street and simply ask humans for change. This didn’t work very well until they started dancing. The people suddenly started to smile and didn’t mind offering a few pennies to the poor little foals. Little did they know how fast that change would add up!
But Daisy knew that there was risk involved as well. She knew how cruel humans could be, so she started hiding the money and made sure the babies never went anywhere beyond the front of the general store. They were not allowed to go home with humans no matter how nice they seemed. The babies made sure to take their change back every so often and add it to the hidden pile so no one would be tempted to steal it.
Brilliant! Soon they had one, two, three cans full of coins! With Rufus’ help they emptied the coins into a box and dragged it into the general store early one morning. The general store owner was astonished to see a group of fluffies hauling so much coin!
“Can you make deez coins into dowwers pweez?” Daisy asked. “You can keep a dowwar for yowsewf too!”
The kind of store owner, Patrick, chuckled and wiped a tear from his eye. “Well i’ll be damned. That’s the cutest thing i’ve ever seen!”
He happily dumped the coins into his coin counting machine and exchanged the money. He handed the bills over to Daisy. She got $37.85! She was so happy to see her family’s hard work paying off.
Patrick was happy too. The dancing foals were driving up business into his store. People came to watch them dance and often came inside to buy a thing or two. And the alleyway had never looked cleaner! All the garbage that had once filled the alley had been cleaned up by Daisy and other fluffies that had moved in. They made sure to use the sewer drain for potties and yelled at people for littering. They were like a little family he had behind his store and he grew to care about them.
He started leaving food our for daisy to sell instead of throwing it into the dumpster. No fluffy went hungry because as long as they could scrounge up even one single penny, they would get fed and have a home.
Rufus had become head of recycling, and the homeless man, Ralph, had moved into the fluffy community. In exchange for the grocery store’s recyclables he had a safe place to sleep and food scraps. He knew better then to ruin the situation by getting greedy and trying to steal more than his share. It was like a commune of human and fluffy alike.
Soon daisy had saved up enough money to afford a small apartment next door to the general store. The homeless man acted as the human they needed to gain access and do the talking, but the money came strictly from Daisy. Soon the fluffies and Ralph were living in a safer indoor area instead of sleeping in the alleyway. Ralph ended up getting a job at the general store part time and helped keep the entire block clean. They were practically gentrifying the whole block!
Tim, the landlord, was skeptical at first, but when they started paying him extra to repair the electrical and plumbing areas of the apartment building, he stopped questioning his good fortune.
As more fluffies came in bringing money, they were able to afford more apartments in the building. They were soon spreading out, dancing in other areas around the block to gain more money from other humans. They continued to spread until Daisy was raking on money faster than Patrick could exchange! He decided it was time to get her a bank account.
At first the bank laughed until Patrick opened the large envelope full of money and dumped it on the desk. He explained where it was coming from and the bank decided to open the account. They even offered loans to Patrick to help continue renovations of the neighborhood!
But Daisy never forgot her roots. She wanted to help homeless fluffies and people alike, and made sure that they were taken care of first. It costed extra money, but thanks to the generosity of surrounding neighborhoods, food was plentiful for the homeless. Some of them still slept in tents on the streets, but at least they were fed. Daisy started giving them jobs like sweeping the sidewalks, cleaning windows, and painting; all things to help the growing neighborhood look better.
They were able to secure more dumpsters for the increased amount of trash, which meant more food and recyclables. They were able to secure relief funds from the local government which meant better housing and jobs for the homeless. It was a cycle of hope and growth without forcing out the people that had helped make it great.
Then the day came where the very man who had thrown Daisy and her foals out on the street came begging for help. He had become homeless too. Despite her heart hurties, Daisy decided to help him. He even started helping her with her taxes, having been an accountant by trade before succumbing to alcoholism. He never quite turned himself around, but he was at least able to afford a place to stay and help the fluffies, apologizing for he past behavior.
Meanwhile, Chip and Lolly had become some of the best fluffy dancers in the city. They had multiple routines and even went on tour throughout the city, making tons of money at several venues in the process. They sent every dime back home to their mother who invested it into the neighborhood to help the homeless.
And so we pan out from this happy little community and wonder… wouldn’t it be great if this were true? Please consider volunteering to help your local neighborhood today, even if it’s just picking up some trash or spending some time at the VA or food drive. You will be pleased with how good you feel!