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Maple [FINAL]

ping111

By ping111
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ping111 Parasprite

ping111

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Roleplay Type: Equestria RP

Name: Maple

Sex: Female

Age: Mare

Species: Earth Pony

Eye Color: Light Blue

Coat Color: White

Mane/Tail/Markings Color & Style:

  • Markings: Three grey freckles under each eye.
  • Mane: Dark red (#8b0000) and light pink (#ffb6c1), parted in front to above her eyebrows, and medium in length at the back, ending in bell-curls.
  • Tail: Same colours as her mane, with two red stripes sandwiching a pink one in a fluffy, billowy style. It is very rarely trimmed and is therefore fairly wild and quite long.
  • Clothing: Dark red/maroon vest and bright-red sweatbands on all four legs above the knee.

Physique: Average dimensions for somepony her age and size, but quite muscular.

Cutie Mark:

9853170-abstract-colorful-maple-tree-isolation-over-white-background.png

Maple tree with autumn leaves. Practically, represents Maple's love of all things related to maple syrup, her sturdy morality like a tree trunk, and her favourite season - autumn. Theoretically[1], represents her sweet (and slightly clingy) disposition and her desire for total unity amongst all creatures, no matter the differences, like the colours of the leaves upon the branches of the tree.

Origin/Residence: Garden Gait, on the edge of the Whitetail Woods. Not far from her childhood home in her parent's log cabin/workshop.

Occupation: Travelling maple products salespony. Guides tours of the Whitetail Woods on the side to make extra bits (and friends).

Motivation: Obviously, Maple loves her namesake, and she finds great pleasure in sharing it with other ponies, and seeing the smiles on their faces when they taste the fruits of her labour. By working hard, Maple hopes to meet & exceed the high standards of her parents, and please & befriend everypony she meets.

Likes: Maple trees, nature, camping, sunlight, smiles, laughing, friends, snow, productivity, hot cocoa, campfires, picnics, soup, cider, and more! She's generally a very happy pony!

Dislikes: Vegetables, rain, lethargy, boredom, cussing, fighting, bitter or sour foods, deforestation, hunting.

Character Summary:

Maple was born in the Whitetail Woods to her two loving, dedicated, and hard-working parents, Samara and White Pine. Devoted to living as far away from the bustling and polluting cities, they decided to leave the grid together and live as one with nature. As such, they imposed a love of nature upon their daughter, along with their diligence and resourceful craftiness. The family went for hikes and camped in the hilly woods in place of vacations to faraway lands. Instead of the typical plastic toys given to foals, her father White Pine would craft dolls and furniture, among other things, out of his namesake. Afterwards, Samara would use her green hoof and create compost out of the leaves for their food garden, baskets out of the branches, and then replace the stump with a brand new tree seed. Cycle was a virtue in that tiny log cabin.

The young Earth pony tried as hard as she could to help around the house, hoping to earn her Cutie Mark while she still had the youthful energy to search for it, but to no avail. Ever the spiritual type, her parents encouraged her to go on a Cutie Quest into the forest, wherein she would fast for a week and search for a sign on how to find her special talent, or even to earn the Mark itself! Maple hesitantly obliged, kissed her parents goodbye, and set off into the Whitetail Woods.

And so, for seven days and seven nights, the filly searched for her knack, and tested a whole manner of hypotheses that she had brewed up. However, her flank remained empty. After a while, Maple became so hungry that she felt she could not continue the Quest without sustenance, and so shamefully broke the fast. Her now target switched from her Cutie Mark to food. She looked through all the trees, hoping for an apple, but nothing was there. On her last fumes of energy, she saw a clear fluid oozing out of her namesake tree, much to her delight. Thanks to her many camping trips, she knew it was never safe to eat or drink anything without heating it first, so Maple filled a rudimentary bowl she had fashioned out of sticks and mud with the sap, and returned to the shelter she had pitched, to the warm fire.

After a few exhausting hours holding the bowl up over the flames, a wonderful smell wafted through the tent, and the transparent sap had caramelized to a golden brown, begging to be tasted. Bringing the bowl to Maple's lips, the viscous gold exploded on her tongue. How incredibly sweet it was! Almost instantly, the gloom and depression that had been coursing through the starving filly's mind evaporated, replaced with joy and hope, a happy grin appearing. Of course she had to share this invention with her family. No, all of Equestria! But what to call this sticky concoction? After a few minutes of deliberation, a smile plastered on the filly's face all the while, it came to her - "Maple syrup."

As soon as the words crossed Maple's lips, a blinding flash lit up the room, before disappearing just as quickly as it came. And there it was, just sitting there on the filly's flank - her Cutie Mark! After all this time, she had finally done it!

She galloped home as fast as she could, and was barely able to catch her breath when her family snatched her in an eternal, vice-grip hug. And oh, what a Cutie Mark - tree-related, just like them! "What did you do to earn it?" they would ask. Maple simply grinned proudly and pulled out two bowls of maple syrup. The room seemed to lighten up as soon as the stuff reached their tongue. They shared their enthusiasm for sharing this treat - but for other reasons.

As far away from civilization as they lived, Maple's family were still Equestrian citizens, and so desperately needed the bits to pay rent. Making rudimentary sculptures and selling veggies you could find anywhere didn't make much, but a 'totally original' sweet certainly would. Being the loving daughter she was, Maple packed up her things, hugged and kissed a tearful goodbye, and set off for the city.

Truthfully, Maple had not invented maple syrup at all - her ancestors learned it from the creatures of the woods, who had been doing it since ancient times (yet Samara and White Pine had not yet bothered to teach their child) - but it should be a fairly new treat to non-outdoorsy folk. Besides, there's something different, almost magical, about Maple's goo. It brought back fond memories of a better time, left a warm tingly feeling all over, and managed to contort even the gloomiest of faces into a genuine smile. It was a product of profit - both physically and emotionally! Maple has, of course, been informed of this sad fact, yet noted no difference in sales.

The first sign of civilized ponies came in Trottingham. Maple was overwhelmed - so many colours and ponies and interesting things, and so few trees! In fact, the filly had only heard of pegasi and unicorns from his father's tales of business trips! Here's a syllogism - Maple's world included only her parents. Her parents were her friends. Therefore, the rest of the world should be her friend!

With a tense smile on her face, Maple assembled the rough-edged stand she and White Pine had crafted and painted, and placed small cups of her syrup onto the table, one bit apiece. Soon, she had her first curious pony come up to the stand. Overjoyed, the filly moved a little too quickly to serve the customer, and ended up knocking a few cups of the syrup over. Now, Maple had no idea how commerce worked, so she embarrassedly gave a bushel of the cups for free to the very confused customer, who still returned a warm smile. That's one of the quirks about Maple - she's too generous for her own good, along with being a bit clumsy.

The now-mare has been travelling ever since, exploring all the brand-new places with foallike curiosity, and improving her trade. She's made a considerable amounts of bits in just a few days! Every time she earned a predetermined amount, she would make the long journey home, hug her parents hello, and gratefully deliver their rent, before taking off.

Today, one can usually find this jovial pony set up in her various stands around Equestria's markets, or in her home on the edge of the Whitetail Woods, the same smile from that day still on her face. Now, to make a little more money, she guides tours of the Whitetail Woods, which includes a live demonstration of how to make maple syrup. Her repertoire of sweets has expanded to maple pops, cookies, and more, but each and every drop of maple syrup is made in homemade batches like it was that fateful night. Just be careful - if you befriend this pony, be prepared to have a very long relationship!

Image:RealMapleNew%20copy.png

1: I believe all Cutie Marks represent something practical (a talent or possession) as well as something relative to their beholders' personality. For example, Diamond Tiara's CM practically represents her tiara, but theoretically represents her leadership skills and how things thrive under her (like Silver Spoon or Foal Free Press).

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Chapien Parasprite

Chapien

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Fillies and gentlecolts, behold, CANADA PONY!

Heh. I really like the concept of this character, and this is an application well on the way to being approved. But I do have a few questions.

Maple was evidently raised largely in nature and far away from cities. My question is, now that she's grown up, has she visited any major cities or civilization? How does she react/cope to these new situations? Somepony who has lived in the rural areas of the world for all their life often has an interesting reaction to urbanization. Your backstory and cutie mark story is really good; just tell us more about what happened after the fact, tell us more about the rest of her life, what her parents thought of the Cutie Mark, and so forth.

Honestly, I don't really have any major complaints on this application beyond that. Good job!

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ping111 Parasprite

ping111

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Huh. I never considered that. It's really annoying trying to write as other people/ponies when you've lived a certain way all your life, and summer camp did me no good. Anyways, I'll get right on that. Thanks for being so speedy! ;)

Edit: I hope that covers it!

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Rosewind Alicorn

Rosewind

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Hi there! You're not going to like this, but I have some bad news: the cutie mark will not work. In Mane RP, any cutie marks that represent national symbols, or well-known symbols in general, are not allowed. Nothing against Canada! I know you take great pride in the art of your OC, but that version of the cutie mark will not work for this game.

However, you may use a different maple leaf design, but it may not look like it was plucked off the Canadian flag. Thankies! :smirk:

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ping111 Parasprite

ping111

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Hi there! You're not going to like this, but I have some bad news: the cutie mark will not work. In Mane RP, any cutie marks that represent national symbols, or well-known symbols in general, are not allowed. Nothing against Canada! I know you take great pride in the art of your OC, but that version of the cutie mark will not work for this game.

However, you may use a different maple leaf design, but it may not look like it was plucked off the Canadian flag. Thankies! :smirk:

Would using a green pink maple leaf work?
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  • 2 weeks later...
Rosewind Alicorn

Rosewind

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This application looks fine, but I will ask you change the maple syrup story. Maple syrup is likely something already invented/produced in Equestria already, so I'm going to ask you adjust it to a variation of maple syrup. Instead of saying your character invented it, she could have discovered a new kind of maple syrup. For example "Whitetail Wood Maple Syrup," which could be unique and delicious to other kinds of Equestrian maple syrups.

After that is fixed, I will be happy to stamp this application!

Please keep in mind that an Admin has to manually switch you to the Roleplayers group once you are accepted, which will allow you to use the Roleplay subforums. Please be patient, as that process can take some time.

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