The Legacy of Little Dipper

"Dipper," a gray unicorn says. "help your mother. Don't be rude."  Another unicorn walks to her side. She looks up at her mother, eyes widened. She trots to a soggy barrel with bubbles coming from the top and dips her hoof in it. The water was freezing, the bubbles were a dirty brown, and smelled awful, like a rotting carcass in the desert sun. Dipper sticks her tongue out at it.

"Dipper!" her mother barks. "Get to work! Now!" Dipper looks at her in wonder, as if she was never taught how to talk. Her mother rubs her temple with a upset and irritated look, then looks at her sickly daughter.

"Why don't you go out and pick some berries? We need more. Your brothers and sisters are already out there," she says. Dipper nods and runs out the door, grabbing a basket from the porch with her green red magic. She runs down the streets of her town, but it's not the main town of Saddle Arabia. It's the outskirts, where the poor ponies live, ponies that can't live in fancy houses with fancy food and uptight clothes.

The only pony would didn't like getting labeled poor or wealthy was Little Dipper. She didn't care if she was poor, she didn't care about anything. She was the only pony in school that didn't have any friends, but she was okay with that. She rarely spoke too. She was also mischievous. Tell her not to do something, she'd turning around and do it in front of your eyes. She was very brave for somepony so sickly. She coughed and sneezed everyday, one of the many reasons she wears a red bandanna around her neck, another rested in her mane, holding it up. She was courageous, she was smart. But many made fun of her because of her ways.

Finally making it down the road and into the market, Little Dipper looked around. She saw many different kinds of berries; blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, etc.. She also saw many pies, cakes, and sweets made of them. She walks by the baskets of fruits, but she is looking for something particular; Apples. But she didn't see any, nor any sweets made of them. How could it be? it was a mystery to her. She hadn't seen any in her mother's kitchen. She didn't smell any when she woke up. The minimized food courts didn't even serve any to them. Apples were gone. None were in sight. She walks ups to a greasy food waiter for a nearby bakery.

"Excuse me,' she says. The old, scary stallion turns to her with a frown sitting on his face. "Where are the apples? I don't see any." At the question, the stallion laughs in her face, sending attention to them. Everypony is looking.

"They're gone! The Queen died yesterday. No more apples! Silly thing if you ask me! The Kind should have known better! Ain't no pony gonna listen to 'em. Everypony loves apples, it's been that way for centuries. But under the orders of the King, I won't eat no apples. Now scat!! Before I sick those guards on you!" he says, pointing to guards in gold armor. Dipper, being herself, looks at him.

"No pony will listen to a big, mean stallion like you," she says, and walks away. She puts the basket on her head, and walks past many other ponies, some glaring at her, others not even paying attention or at least trying to know of her existence.

She walks up to a familiar face; Whirl Wave, a friend of her mother. She would always give her candy when she would visit, until her mother sent her to her room so she and Whirl Wave could talk in private. Whirl Wave, the only pony in Saddle Arabia who respected Dipper. She even thought her name fit her. "Reach for the Dipper, Little Dipper. It will carry you in it's ladle!" is she always told Dipper, or she'd come up with some other nickname for her.

"Dipper!" Whirl Wave says happily. "I haven't seen you for a long time! how have you been? Your mother? Your brothers and sisters?" Dipper shrugs.

"Nothing new," she replies. "they always pick on me or make fun of me. I'm not known in that house." She looks at her hooves, then back up at her favorite and only friend. "How have you been?"

"Alright. Working is what I do mostly. You've come here for some berries haven't you? Your mother. So lazy she is. She sends her children out to do her work. But oh well!" She pulls a barrel of strawberries from behind the counter, handing a scoop to Dipper. "Well Dippy, scoop away! These are about to go bad in a few weeks, so have at it." The small unicorn dips the scooper in, pulling out sweet strawberries. She does this a few times. Suddenly she hears screaming. A gray body slips past her, with spears and guards following it.

"By order of the King, stop that griffon!" a guard yells to the muscle stallions ahead. They block the griffon's path, and more or less, have a stare down. With one movement of the half eagle, half lion's foot, she turns and runs. Jumping over the guards with the spears, she tries landing on her feet, but lands on her side instead. But she gets up and runs the other way as quickly as possible. The guards turn to all the ponies looking at them questioningly.

"Back to your whereabouts now. Go on. Go," the tallest one says.

"What......" Dipper whispers to herself. "What was that?" Whirl Wave snaps out of her dazed state, but still wondering what a griffon was doing here. They were illegal, or outlaws, right?

"You...." she says, pausing for a moment. "better be on your way. Wouldn't want your mom to worry, now would we?" Dipper looks at the exit. Darkness is starting to fall over Saddle Arabia, you could even here the howls and screeches of the creatures that go bump in the night.

"Alright. I'll see you soon," she tells Whirl Wave, and runs out the door.

Back at home, her mother is standing on the porch, with a furious look on her face. Her older sister and brother are giggling, already knowing how much trouble she'll get in.

"Dipper!" her mother yells. "Where have you been?! I've been worried sick! I would ground you, but I need you to do your chores, which you forgot to do before you went. You're lucky if you even get fifteen minutes of sleep after all the chores you chose not to do! Your father would be disappointed in you! Never would he forgive you for this. You also have school in the morning. Now, go do your work! And try not to mess anything up this time." Her mother, brother, and sister turn and walk into the house, slamming the door, and shutting off the lights, leaving only the porch one on. There, Dipper, Little Dipper, the sickly and abnormal unicorn stands, staring at the dark house.

"This isn't the destiny I was born to have," she tells herself. "I have to try harder. Maybe some light will come and vanquish the bad in my days." Dipper sits on her bottom and closes her eyes tightly. Tears slip down her cheeks and her ears go down. There in the darkness of night, she cries directly beneath the constellation she was named after because of her size, the Little Dipper.

"They can't hurt my pride, something I have so little of. My size, my nature. I can't help it. It's just natural. Of course my father would be embarrassed to have me. Who isn't embarrassed of me? I've given life all I've got. I turn my face for the sake of the family, yet they still shun me.....I just want to be appreciated for once. Just one time, I want to do something admirable. Something that would get people to recognize me...." Suddenly, Dipper remembers her older sister coming back from the Queen speech, the one that she was giving when she choked and died. Her sister talked about it, telling it to the other brothers and sisters living in the house. Dipper had once again gotten in trouble and was sent to her room. She remembers peeping from over the upstairs' rails, listening to her sister repeat the Queen's words; dreaming is how the strong survive. Dipper had big dreams, yes she did. Dreams no pony knew she had. She kept them all to herself, so no pony could have the same dream. She wanted a family where she would be loved, noticed, and remembered. She wasn't remembered though, no indeed. It was a big family. Sometimes she could scream and no pony would hear.

"I've come a long way," she says. "All the way from being born to where I am now. I've suffered too. And I'm not letting that suffering be in vain." She gets up, and walks to the water faucet that is waiting for her in the moonlight. She turns it on, filling several barrels with ice cold water, and begins her chores.