Earth Pony Opuntia (Finished)

[Ancre]

Name : Opuntia

Sex : Mare

Age : Young mare

Species : Earth Pony

Pelt Color : Dark Green

Mane and Tail : White, yellow and red, unkempt and wild.

Cutie Mark : A paddle cactus.

Physique : Opuntia is a small but sturdy pony. She wears a cool hat.

Origin : Manehatten. She now lives in a little house on a hill near Appleloosa.

Roleplay Type : Mane RP

Occupation : Cactus farmer.

Motivation : Opuntia wants to see her farm succeeds. It's still a small one, but she's full of ideas, and not scared of working hard !

Likes : Cactus, flowers, building her farm, having a good drink (or a good fight) at the local bar after a hard day's work.

Dislikes : Lazy ponies, conceited ponies who looks down on farmers, being compared to her sister.

Character Summary :

Manehatten. The city of many a high-class pony, with their fancy buffets and social reunions, is also home to many merchants, artisans, simpler ponies who enjoy simpler lives. In Manehattan lived a couple of florists who had two daughters.

The older of the two was named Hortensia. She was a sweet little filly, with a pastel-green pelt and a pastel-pink mane that she braided in small curls. She had a certain charm in her manners (and a touch of arrogance) that reflected her manehattanite upbringing.

The younger of the two was her opposite in many ways. Opuntia was a pudgy filly, with a dark-green coat and a mane unkempt. She was very turbulent, brash and rude, and her parents didn't knew what to do of her. Not that they didn't loved her, of course ; but she seemed so out of place in the haughty city of theirs, that they worried for her future.

Hortensia had a flower bouquet for a cutie mark, and she was the boutique's pride ; Opuntia had a spiky paddled cactus, and she was a perpetual embarrassment for her parents. Sure, the younger sister could take care of flowers as well as the older one, but she had some sort of talent for getting all muddy and dusty and dirty and wild while doing so.

As she grew up, Opuntia started to feel more and more out of place in her hometown. She couldn't quite stand the attitude of the ponies living there : they were all serious and uptight and concerned about their relations and their mane, the richer ones even more so. And it seemed the ponies living there couldn't quite stand her as well : she wasn't very good at school, she frequently got involved into fights, her friends were not the sort of pony you'd present to your parents, her mane was messy and unkempt, and she didn't seemed to care one bit. Everypony living in Manehatten frowned at her attitude. She hated that. Especially when it was her sister.

But what hurt her most was her parents' attitude. They always were concerned. How would their little girl fit in ? What kind of life would she have ? They never said a word, but Opuntia knew they feared that she became a criminal, or a tramp, or something equally disappointing. This really put her spirits down. She had a cactus cutie mark because she loved cactus most of all – not crime or homelessness. And she got interested in cactus because they seemed as out of place as her in the flower shop – but they were still plants, and florists sold them regardless. She felt like a cactus : out of place, yet still a pony, and bound to fit in somehow. If only they could see her for who she was. Cactus had pretty flowers too.

Then, one day, far west of Equestria, somewhere in the distant deserts, a group of settler ponies build a little town. They had lot of courage and determination, a certain taste for cool hats (that made every manehattanite fashionista laugh), and a bunch of apple trees, and they named their town Appleloosa. They captivated Opuntia's attention. Salt bars, fights with the buffalos and the bandits, dusty streets, and a whole lot of cactus everywhere ? She would fit right in ! She started to work and to put as much money aside as she could : she had a plan. Hortensia could have their parent's flower boutique if she wanted, Opuntia would build a cactus farm in Appleloosa !

It took her a year to get all the bits she needed, and it was a lot of work to convince her parents that it was a good idea. Cactus grew flowers, cactus grew fruits : she could sell prickly pears, it was her special talent after all. You could made drinks out of desert plants too, you could make dye, you could make so many things ! All the settlers looked like a bunch of uneducated brutes for a manehattanite, but after all, so did she, she would fit right in. And besides, she had already bought a cool hat and a little house on a hill. There was no turning back, and Opuntia was glad to leave Manehatten anyways. Cactus just didn't grew there very well.

[Ancre]

Another pony ! She's almost done, I'll re-read the application tomorrow after sleep. I just need to find her a name ! I really don't have any good ideas, "prickly pear" sounds like a mean thing to name a child, "ficodindia" is just too weird and I don't like how it sounds, "agave" isn't very pretty either and it's not a cactus anyways ... So yeah, she needs a name and then she's pretty much done.

[Mojo]

How about, "Cactus Kate" as a name?

[Ancre]

Hey Mojo ! Thank you for your suggestion, and thanks to all who gave me theirs on the chat. Somepony mentioned a cactus specie's name, and I started to search from there (I should have thought about it sooner, duh). I'm thinking about naming her Opuntia. It's the paddle cactus genus, it sounds similar to her sister's name Hortensia, and it sounds a little bit bumpy and rough so it fits my character well.

So, on to proofreading and naming my pony !

[Manestream]

wow, this is great- totally approved!