Hope Dawning

Intro

I was born to Mr. and Mrs. Dawn. I didn't know them as mom or dad, they said it was unprofessional. They are so good at their jobs.

I went to their job one time, the biggest store in all of Appleloosa. Not to say it was large. And it mostly carried hardware and such for building barns and such, but Mr. Dawn always said someday we would sell food if he could ever get a farmer to sell it to him cheap enough.

I didn't understand, all our customers were farmers anyway and traded with eachother, but Mr. Dawn must have known what he was doing because he was the best salesman in Appleloosa.

Mr. Dawn's first name was Dusty. Dusty Dawn, and his cutie mark was of a sun rising over the desert. He said it was his destiny to live here in Appleloosa, and noone was going to tell him otherwise.

Mrs. Dawn's first name was Rosita, or Rosy Dawn. Her cutie mark was of the colors of a sunrise behind roses.
Sometimes I wondered if I would get a sunrise mark too, but I knew that everything would work out.

And it did, just not the way I thought it would. I never thought getting my cutie mark would hurt so much.

Story

Hope trotted up the stairs happily, eager to be home after a long day of schoolwork and helping out at the store.
She was so happy that Mr. Dawn was letting her help out at the store, it meant he trusted her with the responsibility, and if there was one thing Hope wanted, it was to be trusted.

She hated when people thought she was lying or couldn't handle something, and took every opportunity to show that she could.

Today she had been allowed to restock the nails and screws, and despite dropping one box of nails, she was able to pick them all up before anypony even noticed. Everything had gone great.

She clattered to a stop mid-thought in the hallway, staring in surprise at somepony she hadn't seen in a long time.

It was a tall white stallion with a reddish mane and tail. His cutie mark was of a sun with flames rising up around it.
"Hi brother." she said, meekly but cheerily.

he took a few steps forward.

"Names Burn, I'm sure you remember." he growled with a less than pleasant grin on his face.

"Of course, Burn. Sorry. I'm sure I'll remember next time." she said, never faltering in her upbeat attitude, but still stepping back from him warily.

He raised a hoof, whether to bump hooves or something more sinister, Hope didn't have to find out.

At that moment the door opened behind her, and Mr. Dawn walked in.

"Mr. Dawn, Burn is here to see us, isn't that great?" she said, keeping herself chipper as always.

"Isn't it?" Mr. Dawn repeated, looking the younger stallion over curiously. "And to what do I owe the pleasure."

It wasn't a real question. Hope knew when Mr. Dawn was asking a real question, he would end the sentence on a high note, like a curious bird, this was something different, a demand.

"Your supposed business partner in Las Pegasus crashed a cart full of underage fillies into a!...."

Before the angry yelling could continue, Mr. Dawn motioned for Mrs. Dawn and Hope to leave the room.

The shouting continued for easily a Candlemark, if not more.

Hope didn't understand any of it, she was too busy helping Mrs. Dawn cook food.

Sometimes she wondered if Mrs. Dawn ever spoke outside of singing nursery rhymes to her at night and telling her how to set the table.

That night, she got to sleep on the couch in the main room, which made her very happy, the couch had a better view of the stars than her bed, and she loved to watch the stars as she fell asleep.

The next morning, most of her stuff had been moved out of her own room, into a closet downstairs. Some of her clothes had gotten ripped in the process, probably by Burn, but she came up with a cool idea for a dress before Mr. Dawn took the ruined clothes away.

She was sure she would have a room again later, and he probably took the clothes to fix them. Since she didn't have school today, Hope very politely asked permission from Mr. Dawn to go play with her friends. He said yes, as long as she was back before sunset.

Hope had a few good friends who lived in or around Appleloosa, but the longest lasting friend she had was Little Strongheart. Strong was always at the cliffs overlooking the shared orchards between the town and the tribe.

After making her way to the cliffs Hope found the young buffalo, who was still older than her by several years, staring out across the only green in the land.

"Heya Strong." She said happily, sitting down beside her. "What're ya doing tonight?"

Strong sighed but smiled down at the young filly.

"I'll be busy, have some Tribal business to sort out, but I suppose we could hang out tomorrow."

Hope nodded. "That'd be great."

They resumed their silent observance of the afternoon on the treetops, remembering Strongheart's stories about the ponies from a distant land who had negotiated peace and befriended everyone they met.

"Tell me th' story bout the Pink pony again." Hope pleaded.

Strongheart laughed and shook her head.

"She was called Pinkie Pie. A more energetic Pony I've yet to meet. She sang and danced even when everyone else thought she was wrong, and they wouldn't listen."

"The chief thought that she was crazy, but in the end she turned out to be right, she never gave up. She was just a bit... off key." Strong chuckled.

Hope loved that story. A complete stranger helping out even when the people she was helping ignored her, She wished that more ponies were like that.