Verdant

Verdant raised his eyebrows at the impressive presentation of the drink. "I'm sure it will be quite vine...hmm...no, that one falls a little flat, but you get the gist." He took a careful sip and blinked in pleasure...there was a perfect blend between the wine itself and the other juices and things in the drink - it was heavenly. "Wow!" he said immediately, "that's incredible! Definitely your best drink, I'd come back for this if I wasn't already going to for the pleasing conversation." He smiled and took another drink. And to think he had had some trepidation about coming here!

Verdant grinned at Berry Punch's contagious enthusiasm. "Yeah, I think 'y'all' is the final nail in the coffin when it comes to Ponyville citizenship. I definitely say it more than I think... and a lot of things are changing around here, but Ponyville always seems to remain largely the same, at least to me. Maybe I'm just so used to the slow changes, now that I think about it." He nudges at his glass with a hoof thoughtfully. "And yeah, guess I could go for something a little stronger. Make me your favorite drink, I'm curious. Since I'm already trying new things today, why not this?"

"Wow, that sounds incredible! From what I'm hearing, the School of Friendship sounds ideal. I had a classmate who went there, and when we met up for a reunion, it sounded like it had been one of the best experiences of his life, so I'd definitely recommend it. I think he's doing pretty well for himself too, and his parents are of course proud. Always good to have a foal who plays nice with the others, too. Could use more of those in the world." Verdant Forest took another long swig of his root beer.

Verdant Forest clapped his hooves together excitedly as the princess and little royal colt made their picks. He gently placed the cowcolt hat onto Nox and fastened the dragon wings to Lux, making sure that they wouldn't hinder either. The little birds hopped eagerly to the starting line on the table at a whistle from Verdant, twittering and fluttering their wings. Verdant turned back to the group at his table, saying, "Both of them will make a full lap of the yard before returning and landing on this line-" he pointed to the finish line at the other end of the table "-and whichever bird lands first will secure the prize for his team. Now, ordinarily, I would say there would be no foul play, but since you've chosen the cowcolt hat, Nox will be able to try to grab Lux's feathers to prevent him from getting ahead. Of course, Nox isn't going to pull any out, just slow down his competitor." He nodded at Ice Storm and then turned to Prince Blueblood and Pax. "And the dragon wings add a little extra power to Lux's flying - he may be able to easily outpace Nox now!" Verdant took a deep breath and then began the race by saying, "Ready, set, go!"

Verdant smiled at the mare's enthusiasm. He wasn't one much for foals himself - surprisingly, his soft spot was only really for animals - but he could definitely appreciate the pride parents had in their foals. "Now, if you had to guess, any ideas about what her cutie mark is going to be? I know some ponies are totally surprised, but, I mean, I was almost completely sure mine was going to have something to do with animals and I was right!" He smiles at the memory of everypony around him getting their cutie marks.

Verdant swallowed awkwardly and took another drink of his root beer. "Oh, yeah. I get that - something you never really think about when you hear the stories." There you go, putting your hoof straight into your mouth again. Please don't let me embarrass myself so badly I can never come back here. He hadn't really thought about the question before he asked it, and now he was regretting it. He searched for a new topic to change the mood and hoped instead talking about her filly would bring her spirits up. "So, you said you had a foal - how is she doing? Good in school and everything? Old enough to get her cutiemark, or still finding out what suits her?"

Verdant blinked a few times at the group coming up to his booth - it looked like a baby alicorn dressed like Olaf - looking absolutely adorable, a sphinx, and the Prince Blueblood with his family in tow, all in matching Neighgyptian costumes? Verdant swallowed nervously. He sure hoped his game was up to snuff now. As the group approached, he straightened his costume and gave the table one last once-over, mostly making sure his parakeets were here and ready. Nox, the light blue parakeet, nestled into the moss nest, and Lux, who was pure white, fluttered around the table, both looking rather excited. Then he cleared his throat and said in a cheerful voice, "Welcome to the Parakeet Race! Fun for all ages, fun at all stages - just a quick explanation and then we can get on with the race. My name is Verdant Forest, and these are my parakeets, Nox and Lux-" and, just as he had trained them to do, they each chirped and hopped upon hearing their name - "and they are our little racers. You will choose, as two individuals or two groups, which parakeet you want to support." He pointed a hoof at the three props on the table and added, "These will give them certain...'superpowers' but you can only choose one! So choose wisely." The three props he had laid out were a little cowcolt hat, a superhero cape, and miniature dragon wings. Only he and the parakeets knew what they did - and he had carefully trained the parakeets to respond differently while wearing each prop. "Everyone will, of course, get a piece of candy at the end, but the winner, or winners, will get two! So choose your groups, choose your fighters, and choose your prop!"

Verdant smiled at the other pony's casual ease, some of the tension sliding off of his shoulders. Berry Punch was very good at her job, it seemed. He sipped his root beer casually - it was the first drink that had come to his mind for some reason, but the sweetness was definitely something he needed after a long day. He turned his thoughts to her questions. "Yeah, we do see Fluttershy quite a bit! Usually she comes in just to lend a hoof, but sometimes she's got a rabbit that fell into a mud puddle and needs a bath, or a dog with tangled fur, something like that." He laughs at a memory. "She's always got a soft spot for the strangest animals, too - I remember once she brought in a baby bear that needed looking after - every other animal and most of the ponies went absolutely wild." "Definitely get what you mean about the friendliness here - I've always wanted to travel outside Ponyville, but I've always been a little worried about the reception. But I can attest it is a nice place to raise a foal! What's Canterlot like? Is it like the stories, or completely different?" His eyes sparkle as he leans forward, eager to hear about places he had only dreamt of visiting.

Verdant swallowed nervously at the sudden attention from the other ponies. No one looked hostile or anything, he just wasn't used to so much scrutiny from strangers. He edged his way to the chair the purple-ish mare had indicated and cleared his throat. "Ah, nice to meet you. I'm Verdant Forest...I've seen you around a little, but we've never talked." He flapped his wings a little and said thoughtfully, "My drink of choice, uh, just a root beer for now, if you have it? And my life story, not much there. Born and raised here in Ponyville - I work at the little animal salon down a couple blocks - Torrent's Animal Boarding and Salon? I live a couple more blocks away from that with my parakeets - lovely little guys, really smart! I've recently been teaching them how to fly loops on command and let me tell you, those-" Verdant stops mid-sentence and shakes his head in embarrassment, clearing his throat. Talking about animals always draws him out from his anxiety, but sometimes he forgets not everyone wants to hear an hour of information about the care and training of them. "Anyway," he continues, "that's about it - how about you?" Do other ponies ask the bartenders about themselves? Verdant questions briefly, then shrugs it off. Oh well. Maybe even if it's not standard, she'll be happy to have the opportunity.

Verdant Forest let out a sigh as he flipped the sign in the window of the animal salon where he worked to "CLOSED". It had been a long and stressful day - they had recently started offering "reptile spa days" after complaints from ponies who wanted to get something special for their scaly friends, and so far it had been absolute chaos. Today, an iguana had managed to slip through the bars of his cage during a puppy's grooming and every customer involved had freaked out, leaving Verdant to try to calm four ponies, a puppy, and an iguana, who really had just wanted to go for a nice post-meal jaunt. As he swept the floor slowly, gathering up all fur and feathers strewn everywhere, he idly wondered what to do tonight. Verdant needed something exciting, something to break the monotony of the past few days. He flipped through his usual options - takeout - did that two days ago, play with his parakeets - did that yesterday, clean his room - did that every day out of sheer boredom. No, he needed something new. Were there any places in town he hadn't been? He'd been to all the shops, all the food places, all the bars...suddenly, a chord struck in his mind. What about that place down at the end of...whatitsname Road? The one run by...Berry Punch? He had only seen the pony from afar, but it was one of the few places in town he hadn't been yet. Maybe it was worth a try? Done sweeping, he fed all of the kenneled animals and gathered his stuff. After locking the door behind him, he trotted down the lane toward's Berry Punch's shop. It was just beginning to become evening, but the other ponies on the street still nodded and smiled at each other. As he approached the drink shop, Verdant slowed to a walk and looked up at the sign. It looked promising, and maybe he could find another pony to have a nice chat with. He summoned up all his courage, and opened the door.

Verdant Forest fussed with the vines on the table he had set up outside his house, trying to get it just right. He had been planning this thing for the whole year, and it was supposed to be perfect. He knew, okay, maybe it was a little extra - as he looked at his neighbor's houses, none of them had anything beyond a few pony skeletons and tombstones in their yard, but he wanted to stand out. This was his first year really celebrating Nightmare Night - he had been too busy to do anything since he was a young colt, and he knew he had to do something special. He had sat at his desk, drawing and redrawing ideas for a while, but he finally settled on some sort of game. He wanted to do something interactive, so this seemed perfect! He had set up a basic table, with a banner overhead proclaiming, "Parakeet Race! Prizes for everyone!" Then he had added some branches and vines wrapping around everything to get it looking more nature-y. The props used for the race were set out in the middle in a bed of moss which he just knew the foals would tear apart instantly, but it looked nice. He couldn't wait to explain the game. He leaned on the table, chin in his hooves, and sighed in worry, flapping his wings idly. Verdant Forest had done everything he could to fine-tune this process, so nothing should go wrong - but there was always the what-if factor. His two parakeets, a key part of the game, chirped and hopped on the table beside him. The smaller one, Nox, pecked at his hoof and twittered at him, and Verdant Forest sat up. "You're right, I'm stressing over nothing. Tonight is gonna go great and everypony is going to love what I've done." He ruffled Nox's feathers gently and said, "You've got all the hard work to do tonight and you're not even a little flustered - I gotta be more like you." Nox chirped again and hopped away, back to his buddy Lux. Verdant Forest had no idea if Nox had actually said anything along those lines, but it helped his confidence to pretend he had. Verdant Forest was also excited to show off his costume - he had made it himself, sewing it together by hoof and building some of it, and while it had some...flaws, it wasn't the worst thing he had ever seen. He was dressed as a Timberwolf - not super accurate, of course, so as not to scare the fillies and colts, and anyway his sartorial skill was nowhere near that high - but still, you could tell what he was. He had wrapped foam around his legs and painted it to look like wood grain. Around his body was a vest that he had attached sticks and branches to - he had even attached little leaves to the feathers of his wings to make them look more woodsy. A half-mask covered his upper face, though the effect was spoiled somewhat by his round, anxious eyes peering out from the eyeholes. It was supposed to match the theme of game, and Verdant Forest thought he did pretty darn well for it being hoofmade. All in all, he was ready! Nothing - nothing - was going to go wrong tonight. So he sat and waited for his first few trick-or-treaters to come along.

If it's okay, I'd love to have Verdant Forest running a game booth outside his house as a special treat for foals.

Alright, thank you! ^-^ That makes sense, I've changed it now.

[READY] Name: Verdant Forest Gender: Male Age: Stallion Species: Pegasus (tinge of Earth Pony in his appearance, see history) Eye Color: Light brown Character Color: A medium green, like moss but a little lighter. Almost a stereotypical leaf color. Mane and Tail: Mane and tail are a gradient green from light to dark, lighter towards his body, darker radiating out. The hairy fetlocks he inherited from his Draft Horse mother also follow this trend. Mane reaches all the way down and almost flows like a wave, with a curve over his forehead. Tail has no particular style. Keeps himself clean-shaven as an older colt Physique: Average for his age, a little muscular in the legs from lots of walking in the woods, but couldn't really be described as "muscular" Residence: Ponyville, but he wants to leave to explore Occupation: As an older colt/stallion he works in an animal salon and daycare. He spends most of his free time in the Everfree Forest, and loves going there with friends, provided they also respect nature. Cutiemark: As a stallion/older colt, his cutie mark is three brown pawprints going left, right, left. This symbolizes his close connection to animals - he got his cutie mark as a colt after saving an injured deer from a young timberwolf, which was one of the pivotal points of his life and helped him gain confidence in himself. Unique Traits: Verdant is quite skilled at soothing animals - he cannot talk to them, like Fluttershy, but has carefully learned some specific noises which he uses in the salon and daycare to solve disagreements and make sure everyone is happy. History: Verdant Forest was born to a pegasus father and an earth pony mother, both of whom also lived in Ponyville. While he did end up inheriting his mother's hairy fetlocks, he has inherited no other earth pony traits and any plants he tries to nuture almost certainly wilt. He definitely considers himself as almost fully pegasus, with fully developed wings and a passive love for flying. His parents had no other children, so they were able to devote a lot of attention to him as a very young foal, though both had busy careers. Unfortunately, his mother passed away from natural causes when he was a foal and his father ended up seeking a career with a show-pegasus team which led him away from Ponyville when Verdant was an older colt. Verdant still loves them both and his father comes back to visit frequently. Verdant did well in school and had a few close friends. However, what he really wants is to go out into the world and see all new species of other creatures and animals! Personality: Verdant Forest likes to be funny - he wasn't exactly a class clown, but he enjoys seeing his friends smile and laugh, so he knows how to crack a couple jokes. He's an extrovert, but not in the same way as, say, Pinkie Pie - he just likes being around other ponies, even if it's in silence. He's generally kind, though he has trouble with being too honest, even when it might hurt another pony's feelings - though he never intentionally wants to hurt others. Verdant's main source of happiness comes from animals, and he loves to share animal facts with everypony who will listen him. He has two parakeets in his apartment as a stallion and a cat named Buddy. Character Summary: Verdant Forest is an open, funny pegasus who loves animals and other ponies' company. His main color scheme is different shades of green, and he enjoys exploring Everfree Forest, though he wishes he could head out further. He is always looking for new friends and new experiences, even as a foal.

Wow, thank you! I really appreciate the help