flutterscotch

Trillium looked at Valoren straight in the eye, she blushed for a moment, but was way too confident to let it rattle her"Pretty? You think I'm pretty? Why thank you", she beamed, "Too bad certain other ponies I know don't see it", she added, a little sadly. "You see, I have this friend. A very good friend, he is, but he just doesn't see me "in that way".. She frowned before continuing. "I know!" She perked up "You're a boy! Maybe you can give me some pointers?"

Blushroom peaked out from under her now completely disordered mane at the princess's giggle. "Of all the times", Blushroom thought, "Of all times for me to get nervous, and in front of the second most important pony in Equestria" She stood up, her dress now almost completely crinkled, leaving bits of bark where she had lain. She tried to straighten it as best as she could. "I'msorryyourmajesty,Ashtonweshouldbegoing" She blurted meekly and then bowed to the princess again. She looked wide-eyed at the other ponies and turned to make her escape.

"The screen? THE SCREEN? Why I was an actress of the THE-A-TER" she grumped. These were the most crass ponies she had encountered in awhile. Of course, they were the only ponies she had encountered in awhile. Her current job of lighting Ponyville's firefly lanterns kept her isolated from anypony but the late-night wanderers. She continued to glower for the space of a few breaths more before perking up at BlindJester's almost hero-worshippy, in her opinion, questions. "Oh affairs! You would not BE-lieve who the press paired me up with during my heyday! Rocky Vandercolt of The Stable Affair, Widowmaker of Rainbow in the Dark and even, she chuckled at the memory and how scandalized her parents were, as a young filly, "Young Buck Lucky from Rodeo Story". But those were better times, more glamorous times. What passes for "entertainment" today is just too-too, " she affected a shiver for emphasis, " common! I am holding out until my agent hands me a script worth putting my talents into."

[ Creature Related Character ] Name: Chotchkie * Sex: Female Age: No longer a fawn, but not quite an adult: just old enough to live on her own Species:deer Eye colour: Chocolate Brown with amber flecks Physique & colours: Tiny, and will remain tiny (she is similar in size to a Leaf Muntjac , but definitely pudgy in the midsection from all the sweets, both pilfered and freely given. She has an ordinary russet brown coat with a creamy underbelly, and a little tuft of darker hair on top of her head, sometimes tied with a bow when she can find someone to tie it for her. Residence: Whitetail Woods, towards the Solstice Heights Foothills border Occupation: She doesn't need a job. She lives in the woods, and supplements her diet with food she gets from the well-meaning ponies in the nearby loosely-organized "villages" dotting the foothills around Canterlot. Unless being completely adorable is an occupation. Then sign her up! She also helps in woodland cleanup activities (Winter Wrap Up, Running of the Leaves, etc) when she feels like it. Mostly she just gets in the way. LikesCUPCAKES, marshmallows, pie, attention, candy, ice cream, adoration, donuts Dislikesthis nasty "woods food" that Trillium and the other ponies keep trying to make her eat, being alone, big cities (but she adores little villages full of cottages... and sweets), having responsibility foisted on her. Character Summary: Chotchkie was found in the woods, alone by Trillium when she was just a tiny little fawn, injured and barely alive. The kind hearted pony and her small community took the little creature in and nursed her back to health. She was, and still is such a tiny cute little thing that they named her after the knick-knacks that littered the shelves in their cottages (which, being so close to the Whitetail Woods, many of those figurines were of deer), and doted upon her with attention and food. A side-effect of this is that she doesn't exhibit as many typical deer traits as she should at her age, and was almost unable to acclimate to living in the woods (indeed many of the ponies of the Solstice Heights Foothills woke up to find Chotchkie crashed out and drooling on their lawn furniture or raiding their gardens and flower beds during those first few months where Trillium tried to get the little deer to live in her natural habitat). Chotchkie loves being the center of attention, since she basically was for as long as she can remember in her short life, so she's spoiled and slightly entitled. She is also EXTREMELY nosy. The ponies joke that her name should be "Whatcha Doin'?" since it's what they hear her say most often. She has a lot to learn in life: how to really take care of herself, what her motivation is, what she special talents she might have. She is eager to learn when she is interested, and as Trillium would put it "Smart as a Whip!" Her pony friends have requested that she start a search for her real parents, or at least other deer, so they can teach her the ropes. They love the little brat, but realize that coddling her as a fawn wasn't in Chotchkie's best interest, so they worry about what will become of her without their protection. Sometimes in the youngster's mind this morphs into "the ponies don't love me anymore", and she throws little hissy fits and resorts to ruining their flowers (she can be slightly destructive and vindictive), but then other times she understands that she is not a pony and needs to live they way she was meant to. When it's convenient for her. She is on the cusp of having more empathy for other creatures, but is still primarily self-centered, so the timing of the search for others of her kind has come at a bad time for her, emotionally. She is kind of afraid to meet other deer, though, because she knows that most of the ones who she may meet will be older, wiser and see her as a complete baby. Notes: * I know the more common spelling of this is tchotchke. But chotchkie was chosen because of Office Space. ** Note on Personality. If Chotchkie had been raised by another pony, say, a bandit pony, she would likely be a tiny little criminal, and be a little too good at it CHOTCHKIE CAME DOWN WITH PERYTON POX AND LOST HER USELESS WINGS!

"Oh pish posh! Don't think anything of it. You see we ALL have guest houses, all my friends and I that is, but we never have the opportunity to to have any GUESTS. Anyone who passes this way is always going to Canterlot, so they never stop to see our village for more time than it takes to pass through. And we work SO hard to make it pretty. But you don't exactly seem like the type that would be comfortable in Canterlot...", She let out a small giggle, "no offense, so even if you declined, I'm not sure if my friends and I would take "NO" for an answer." So let's get a move on! Trillium exclaimed, "Giddy-up!", and began skipping off in the direction of the waterfalls. (edited to change the text color)

"Why that little cheeky...", Glow fumed inwardly as "Prickly? PRICKLY? Moi?". "That blind pegasus had the NERVE to ask is someone like Glow was *involved* with a hopeless case that the fashion police should take away right now such as Money? These insults could not go unpunished." She stood there plotting her revenge as they chatted about, in her opinion, the dull, ordinary mundanities of their lackluster lives. She would show them. She would show EVERYONE that she was not to be trifled with. As visions of Equestrian Domination flashed through her head, she caught the mare's EXTREMELY patronizing imitation, of what she could only assume was supposed to be her. She opened her mouth to say something, thought better of it and closed it again. She just stood there with narrowed eyes.

"Yep!" chirped Trillium. She absolutely adored giving other ponies a tour of "her" woods, and the foothills surrounding Canterlot. "It sure as sugar will be!" She thought for a moment about what the best route to take would be, to maximize the highlights of the area. "I have it! We'll take this route through the woods, around the foothills, to the base of so you can see the waterfalls. They're wonderful to splash in! "Just lemme know if I yap too much and bore you with all the flower talk along the way." They began their journey though the woods, Trillium pointing out the mundanities as only a true local in love with their hometown could. "This rock marks the boundary of what used to be the limit of where ponies cared for the woods many generations ago. As you can see it extends all the way to Ponyville in that direction, and Hoofington in the other. Beautiful, well-cared for woodland with manicured paths and closely tended flowerbeds for all of the woods! Oh and this tree, see under this tree is where I planted my very first Trillium bed that gained me my cutie mark! And this path leads to just the most lovely little grove of Lilacs, but we can hit that on the way back. Oh, Val, look at this plant, it's really rare in these parts. It's called a pitcher plant!" She continued chattering about the woods, pausing quite a bit for Valoren to show polite interest. She suddenly stopped and stamped impatiently at what first appeared to be nothing at all. "Oh DARN it.", she cried. "Those stupid ants are at it again!" She looked up at Valoren, and then to the line of dark brown ants on the forest floor. "They're moving seeds to areas they are not supposed to. They do this all the time, but since I can't talk to them, I have to try to entice them to stay elsewhere with sugar." She reached into her basket and grabbed a cookie that was already broken. Then she crumbled and spread it in the underbrush, a more appropriate place for flowers to grow. "That oughta hold them until tomorrow, though". She put her face close to the ground and pouted at the tiny insects. "I will deal with YOU little brats properly later." Suddenly, she had an idea that would enable her to not only get to know this nice new friend of hers better, but maybe, just maybe, make River Birch a little jealous in the process. Trillium jumped up and turned to Valoren Seeker, eyes shining. "I know! We can go back to the village for dinner after we see the waterfalls! Please say you'll have dinner with me! I can invite my friends and we can make it a really fun "welcome" party for you. You can stay in our guest house while you are on vacation if you want, even!

"He may look goofy, but this Zebra sure has my number. Maybe he's not as dumb as I thought he was." thought Glow, cringing inwardly, not that she would ever admit that to ANYPONY. Like a foal who's been caught in some wrongdoing, and is forced to apologize, she faced the pegasus, head down and said, "I am dreadfully sorry for my rudeness, you just surprised me, that's all" "I can't believe this young whippersnapper of a Zebra just did that to me. He'll pay for that.." she continued on her internal rant. " DID I JUST REFER TO HIM AS A WHIPPERNAPPER? What IS wrong with me tonight?"

Ashton was able to break away from Blushroom before he collided with Luna completely. He began to just walk up to the princess. "Ashton, you don't understand! That's PRINCESS ...", Blushroom whispered, rather loudly but before she could finish her warning, he was already introducing himself like she was an ordinary pony. She glanced, wide-eyed and panicked towards the alicorn and dropped to the ground in deference, only lifting one eyebrow to see what she was going to do to Ashton for being so presumptuous. She'd heard about Princess Luna, and the havoc she caused at last year's Summer Sun Celebration. Blushroom, who has never had the reputation of being the bravest of ponies (nor the most observant), lay on the ground trembling at the feet of several ponies who were completely and totally comfortable in Luna's company, and who had in fact been happily chatting with her for quite a few minutes. For a pony so worried about what others think of her, she had certainly put herself in yet another situation where other residents of Equestria have valid reason to think her strange.

Trillium nodded in agreement "Uh-huh! This is the best place in all of Equestria for clearing your head and relaxing! And especially for admiring the scenery!". She returned his grin with one of her locally famous mile-wide smiles. "Not that I'm biased or anything". "Have you ever been around these parts before? If you haven't I'll gladly give you a tour!" she said, prancing just a little, clopping her dainty hooves on the hard packed dirt. "Oh where ARE my manners, I have a basket full of cookies here, would you like one?" Trillium held open the basked and offered him one.

Before Monty could answer, Glow was jarred by a collision by another pony, which dislodged her fireflies and sent them flying for the dewy grass below the bridge. "Well EXCUSE you! Somepony needs to look where she's going!" cried Glow savagely, not noticing that the orange pegasus could not, in fact, see where she was going at all. The pony tried to laugh it off, but Glow was infuriated. "I don't know WHAT your problem is, but you'd better scram", she hissed, looking at dismay at the scattering of sequins littering the grass where BlindJester collided with her, and then assessing the damage to her dress. "Some Ponies!" After a few more moments of huffing and fussing over her dress, Glow finally turned to the pegasus to tell her off. It was then that she noticed BlindJester's eyes. She looked at Monty, mouth agape, expecting him to soothe the situation and cover up her faux pas.

Ashton had just asked if maybe the unicorn was a relative of Princess Celestia's, but it didn't register with her brain at that exact moment. Blushroom could tell that he was interested in the dark unicorn as well. In a fit of uncharacteristic assertiveness, Blushroom chirped "Let's get a closer look!" , and nudged him into the direction of the clearing with way more force than she should have mustered. Then it occurred to her, just as they were about to crash into her. Relative? RELATIVE? Oh no! This must be PRINCESS LUNA! Oh now embarassing!

She was a little out of breath when she was done with her story. Monty brayed. "My sweet Celestia what was that godawful noise!?" she thought to herself, and let her face show it for less than half a second. She flashed the "return" command to the fireflies that she had brought with her to try to regain her feigned polite composure. As this zebra's reward, she decided, she would show a little interest. He made it this far, and she wasn't quite ready to part his company. "So, what brings you to the Gala, and in particular this garden?"

Trillium was about to bolt the huge black pegasus introduced himself in a gentle, calm voice. He said he was "Fighter and Protector of Equestria", she was a little puzzled. Certainly nopony around here was looking for a fight! "Oh! Well, it is sure is nice to meet new faces! My name is Trillium, and I work in these woods, planting things and taking care of the spring flowers", she said, smiling and extending a hoof. "So, you're a fighter and the protector of Equestria... is someone in the neighborhood in some sort of trouble? I grew up in these parts and know almost everypony here, so I'd hate to hear that there was some sort of trouble!" She looked up. This stallion had nice eyes.

Trillium was trotting along a sun-dappled path, humming softly to herself, a basket full of cookies attached to the side of her small saddle. Later, in the summer, the trees leaves would fill in a lot more and this part of the woods would be in deep shade. But this time of the year the leaves were small, and the spotted light was so fetching on her pelt. It was the perfect day for a "chance" encounter. The pale green pony had brushed her coat, mane and tail until they gleamed, and put a fresh trillium, the flower she was named after, behind her ear. She was in a great mood, joyous and playful. She knew that the stallion she was secretly in love with, her very good friend River Birch would be checking on the new birch cones among the trees. SO she was conveniently wandering this part of the woods, with of all things the very cookies he loved most of all. She heard some twigs snap nearby, so she looked up. On the crest of the hill she saw a dark shadow that resembled a stallion. She whistled. The figure did not respond. "Oh, River Birch, I know you're just tryin' to fool me, but I know it's you, so you can just stop it right now" She called out in an amused tone, rearing up playfully. "If you don't, I'm not making you cookies anymore!" She broke into a gallop and nimbly dodged tree roots that crisscrossed the path to greet her friend. Trillium froze, mid-gallop. This pony wasn't River Birch, not at all. This stranger was huge, dark and strong, and Trillium was just a little afraid!

"Interesting, very interesting", thought Glow "For all this joker's uncouth appearance, he clearly understands that as a charmingly beautiful lady, naturally the conversation should center around me". She of course, gave his comments about his wild nature, and his mane the merest nod. She simply didn't care. She just wanted to get to the part about HER! "Oh yes, the food is simply divine, even the more, um, rustic dishes." She paused for breath before she launched into her life's story. She hadn't told it in so long that she wanted no interruptions. "It all started when I was a mere foal, really. My sire and dam recognized my talents at a very early age, so naturally they wanted to see me appear on the stage, with my name in LIGHTS! (((Narrator Scotchie here: This continues in this vein for quite some time. The short version, and the only details that are important (and not embellished by Glow's propensity to remember the past as this magical sparkly place where the entire land of Equestria adored her): She was born in Manehattan. She was an actress as a child, and was small and cute enough to do it for far longer than her age should have allowed (think Shirley Temple-esque career, but on the stage only, and popularity limited to Manehattan, really), and then Equestria's taste in little precocious girl stars changed from dark and almost sickly to curly, chubby and pink...a 20's to 30's dynamic. Since then she has forced/bullied her way into various community theater productions, until they made her stop, and nobody as asked her back yet. I have to fix a work crisis so will add more details in here when I am done.))) She continued on, almost breathlessly, only pausing to make sure his attention had not flagged, Oh, but of course attending the theater is *nothing* like the glamorous occasion of my youth. Everything just seems so *common* these days. The audience no longer in formal wear, the music popular and crass, oh and the tripe that counts for acting... It was just all too much to bear, so I withdrew from the stage at the top of my game and have lived the simple life in Ponyville until I finally am passed a script that is worth putting my efforts into". She smiled a little, somewhat sadly, and flashed her horn . "Of course, my name will always be in lights", she added, as the fireflies coalesced above her head, spelling her name.

"Oh thank you," Blushroom said shyly, "I did make it myself, it was once my mother's wedding dress" as she shifted her front legs a birch flower fell from her dress, causing their hoofshake to be possibly the briefest in existence. She hurriedly bent down to pick it up the flower and place it back where it belonged. As she did, stray strands of hair fell from her up-do and drifted across her muzzle. She was not good at these fancy parties. In a desperate attempt to get the focus of the stallion, and the conversation off of her and her dress, she gestured with one hoof towards the trio in the clearing, who were still fiddling with the pegasus' bow tie. "That dark unicorn seems so familiar to me, and the other two seem to be treating her with with so much respect that I feel like I should know who she is. Do you know?

Glow sighed as the only stallion who was prepared to pay her attention to her all night approached. "What does this Stripey Nightmare want?", she thought, glancing first from his coat, to his insane hairdo, and the cherry on top, almost quite literally, a big bowtie. He reminded her of that creepy Zecora lady she'd seen in her hometown of Ponyville a few times lately, a foreigner. Only substantially less creepy; this clown couldn't even scare that ridiculously timid yellow pegasus back home. Still, attention is attention, and she had been standing here by herself such an awfully long time now. She sighed, mustered her most charming smile and and answered his rather blunt, and in her opinion rude, questions. "Why, hello there Sir Monty", she purred, "it is fabulous to make the acquaintance of such a dapper gentleman, with such unusual and unique *ahem* style. My name is Glow. As for my luminescent friends , I merely ask them in such a manner, and they oblige." to illustrate for the zebra, the tip of her horn flashed a few times, and the fireflies left their posts and swirled around her horn. A few more flashes and they returned to the sequinned leaves on her dress. "And I have no idea what you mean about my neck hurting, sir, I've always held my head with grace the way my childhood acting coaches instructed me" Now that he wasn't staring at her dress, she had to look up to speak to him, her eyes almost level with the bow tie she found ever so horrible. "Are you enjoying your time at the Gala?"

Another hour passed, and Glow was getting impatient. Did these stallions not have any taste? She put on her most languidly bored demeanor and amused herself by placing fireflies in more flattering positions. Nearby, two lovelorn, and notably SINGLE fillies were singing. "Oh I do WISH they would stop their caterwauling". She rolled her eyes at a clearly established couple who seemed way too excited to be there. "Rubes." She watched stallions go by, ignoring her, and made herself feel better via internal dialogue, cataloging the reasons why they were inadequate anyway. "Pelt and mane clash" "My what a HORRIBLE cutie Mark" "Looks like a loser" "Too plump" "Too old" "Oh he IS handsome, but his colors would not complement mine, not at all"

Blushroom was still observing the trio in the clearing, still a bit puzzled as to the identity of the dark blue unicorn. The other two clearly knew who she was, and were even making polite bows. She must be very important, but she didn't seem to carry herself in the haughty manner the other "important" ponies at this shindig. Why, right now she was helping the purple unicorn untie the poor pegasus from his bow-tie fiasco. She was so wrapped up her thoughts that she didn't realize there was somepony right behind her! "Excuse me." She spun around and found herself face to face with a pair of purple eyes. Now, Blushroom if was shy around other mares, and even fillies, she was nearly TERRIFIED of members of the opposite sex. She quickly glanced away and frantically looked for a place to hide. There were some flowerbeds and bushes, but nothing that could conceal her completely enough. In those brief seconds of panic, she realized that this orange unicorn didn't seem to be quite as well dressed as a lot of the others she had seen. He had some lovely pins on his collar, but it looked like he too had done the best with what he had at the time in terms of wardrobe. "H..H..Hi" She stammered, trying to hold herself together so she didn't look like a fool, "I'm Blushroom, I'm from Ponyville.". She tentatively held her unshod hoof out to the other pony.

Glow looked around in a huff. "None of these stallions have even so much as GLANCED at me", she thought. "They must know I out-class them". She undid a small section of her dark blue mane and moved it over her eye in an attempt to be alluring. "I knew I should have shown up later. The stallions here are mere CHILDREN". She continued to stand apart from the crowd and silently judge them, from their dresses, to their pelt colors, to their choice of dates. Nothing escaped her scorn.

I did my American duty and bought furniture at discount prices, and cooked dead pieces of animal while drinking. Yep.

"Oh my my MY, but standards have declined since my day", Glow smirked, first surveying the crowd in the ballroom, and now making her way towards the Lover's Bridge to entice some lucky stallion into spending the evening with her. "Look at the ordinary dresses on these mares. No glitter, no glamour. They would have been laughed from the party had this been a premiere party when I was still a star". She slowly made her way through the somewhat secluded alcove, every one of the thousands of blue-green sequins of her dress glittered in the moonlight. Every chartreuse leaf accent on her dress was lit by the light of a firefly, just adding to the glitter. Glow didn't realize it, but her dress was a generation's worth of years out of style. She she looked completely absurd. She struck what she thought was a provocative pose under a tree and waited for the stallions to come running to the "mysterious and aloof" unicorn. {{{{{{Note from Scotchie, feel free to knock the *****'s ego down a few pegs, she's a cougar, a tease and a has-been that never actually was.}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

My "most afraid of other ponies" mare, Blushroom is wearing a dress she made herself, as she is very poor, of scraps of her estranged mother's wedding dress dyed with natural dyes, and hair and dress accessories she made of birch bark and flowers. She looks cute, and the woodland fairy look definitely suits her to a T, but has just become dreadfully aware that she is underdressed. And she forgot to wear shoes. Glow is wearing a ridiculously overdone sequinned dress the same blue-green as her pelt with princess sleeves. Chartreuse leaves adorn the neckline, the train, and her forelock, each leaf has an actual firefly on it, glowing faintly. Her shoes follow this same theme. If she was a human she'd look like the lovechild of Vanna White circa 1987 and a Smurf... with a strand of christmas lights thrown in for good measure. She thinks she looks completely lovely, and might have at a different time been the belle of the ball, but she is a generation too late, and too old to pull it off now so she just looks ridiculous. Trillium is actually not at the Gala, but she is wearing a lovely dress made of simple, overlapping cut-out flower petals in her cottage at the foothills surrounding Canterlot. She is dancing by herself, imagining herself to be at the Gala with the stallion of her dreams, a friend of hers named River Birch. Every now and then she glances up at the lights of Canterlot and has to hold back tears. Everyone else is naked. Because they're not there.

Blushroom, who had gone to the Gala only after weeks of urging from her grandmother, stepped into the garden apprehensively. Her grandmother was constantly worried about the young mare and her fear of interacting with other ponies, and had hoped the polite etiquette required by the event would help her realize that most of the rest of the residents of Equestria were far kinder than her school mates had been. She was wearing a simple dress she designed herself, using tulle from her mother's wedding dress she had dyed with the tannic acid from acorns a dull brown, and accented with flowers made of birch bark interspersed with pale fresh flowers from the Everfree Forest. Her mane, in tones of red-orange, ochre and white (normally a matted mess of sticks and other natural detritus) was sleek and pulled up in an elegant up-do, further accented with her handmade flowers. An unkind pony would wonder if she was a renegade fairy-pony from an Equestrian Production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", but Blushroom had done what she could with what materials she had and did look rather fetching. The gardens were not quite as full of revelers as she had feared, so she minced her way among the flower beds somewhat away from the main paths and drank in the sights and scents that this very special garden offered on this gorgeous evening. Blushroom had just rounded a particularly beautiful and fragrant lilac bush when she stepped into a clearing with a carpet of sift, lush grass. A unicorn, much better dressed and coiffured than she, and a pegasus struggling with a bow tie, rather in vain were in the clearing, and a second unicorn was approaching them. Her heart raced, and her first reaction was to bolt before they could judge her, but she swallowed her urge to flee. Blushroom noticed that the dark unicorn, who she felt that she had seen before, seemed apprehensive as she approached the other two. "Maybe, just maybe", Blushroom thought, "I'm not the only pony nervous about this night. I wonder who she is. I feel like I've seen her somewhere"