Berry Punch [Ready]

[Blueblood]

 

Roleplay Type:  World of Equestria

 

Name: Berry Punch

 

Sex: Female

 

Age: Full-grown mare

 

Species: Earth Pony

 

Eye colour: Purple

 

Coat: Lavender

 

Mane/Tail: Burgundy

 

Physique: Voluptuous; Berry’s a curvy mare and proud of it

 

Residence: Ponyville

 

Occupation: She runs a small shop selling both fruit juice and wine.

 

Cutie Mark: A bunch of grapes with a strawberry.  Sho originally got her mark after an incident where she asked her parents for an increase in her allowance.  Instead of just giving her the money, her mother insisted on her actually learning how to make some herself, by working alongside the family produce business.  She suggested juicemaking, which the young filly tried, and soon found that she had a talent for, blending different fruits into new combinations that were very tasty and popular.  The increased business from both the product quality, and the cute filly selling it, were more than enough to get her both the desired income, and her cutie mark!

 

Unique Traits: Despite her common, unsophisticated manner, she has a cultivated taste.  Berry can pinpoint what kind of grape a wine is made from, and usually from where the grapes came as well.

 

History: Berry was originally born in Canterlot, to a pair of earth ponies who sold produce to the city-dwellers.  Her father had worked his way up from running a small street cart to the status of respectable middle-class shopkeeper alongside his wife.  Despite his own hard-working nature, he tended to be a rather doting father, much more inclined to indulge his only daughter rather than inculcate his work ethic.  While this was balanced by the efforts of Berry’s mother, as a foal she was given more leeway to play and have her way than many of her peers.

 

This didn’t prove to be much of a problem at first; young Berry was as willing to help around the house and shop as she was to get into trouble as a young filly, which was fairly often in both cases.  Nonetheless, after getting her cutie mark, a fairly steady future seemed set out for the young mare, either taking over or branching out of her parent’s business.  And it wasn’t as if that would necessarily make her unhappy, either; she enjoyed running a business, bantering with customers, and convincing them to leave with just a little more than they intended to buy.  However, a few curveballs were set ahead of Berry as she grew into a mare.

 

First off, there was no denying that Berry had grown up to be a very attractive mare, who could catch the eye of any passer-by.  And in Canterlot, these passers-by can be very high up indeed.  Her parents were not blind to the possibilities this could open, and hence would both allow and encourage her to pursue a social life that could bring her into contact with all classes.  Secondly, at one of these little get-togethers, Berry discovered and developed a taste for wine.  Like most ponies who were new to the stuff, it had a tendency to go to her head.  Thus, her early adulthood was full of increasingly wilder parties with the scions of the upper class, opening the gates with her looks and ostensibly there to promote business contacts.  Sooner or later, this lifestyle was bound to catch up with her, and as it turned out, the consequences came rather soon.

 

After one very busy and poorly-remembered night out, Berry found that she had become pregnant.  Who exactly the father was remained uncertain, but it was telling that several prominent families of unicorn nobility were willing to pay good child support money to keep the whole business quiet.  And they did pay; Berry’s parents made sure of that.  Truth be told, both of them felt a little guilty that their own pressure and ambitions had led her to this.  For Berry herself, the experience was a sobering one, in both the literal and metaphorical sense.  In time, they all came to the conclusion that the best course of action was for her to move to another town, one with a lower cost of living, and use the money gained from keeping quiet to open that other shop they’d talked about.  No sense leaving a single mother without any source of support, after all.

 

After some deliberation, they chose the town of Ponyville as a quiet but promising place.  They’d all come down to visit, and found the town to be particularly welcome to outsiders, even those with less than stellar paths, priding themselves on being good neighbors and supportive of newcomers.  Berry could not think of a better place to raise a foal, and so was rather eager to get started!  The money paid for a small house and a market stall, again where juices could be sold to refresh the passers by.  However, some trace of her old life stuck with her, as Berry also branched out into fermented juices, bringing in good wine at affordable prices to her now-fellow citizens.

 

Soon, the mare gave birth to her daughter, little Ruby Pinch; prime competitor for cutest unicorn filly in the world, as far as her mother was concerned.  Although, it had to be said that Berry did make some effort to make sure that Ruby didn’t go down her own path; teaching her from the outset to regard all ponies as equal, no one worth impressing more than another.  She couldn’t be prouder of how the little one is growing up, and her business is doing well.  By now, Berry is seen as one of the fixtures of Ponyville life, always willing to pour a little out to sample for her customers, even picking back up a few of her old flirtatious ways with particularly nice ones, and generally enjoying village life.  Recent incursions by Princesses, monsters, and magical mayhem notwithstanding...

 

Character Personality:  Berry Punch is an open and friendly mare, a loving mother to her daughter, and always willing to talk with her customers.  She has a good eye for business, despite her easy manner, and is always putting a few bits aside here and there for her daughter’s future.  She tries to strike a balance between encouraging a star-striking ambition, and keeping a level head of practical, protective realism about her.

 

With other adults, she is friendly, sometimes outright flirtatious.  She has rather developed than lost her good looks, and she is still not afraid to take advantage of them to get traffic into her little wine and juice shop, though she’s rather more careful about moving past business to the personal.  She’s an active participant in Ponyville town life and events, and has grown to love her second home even more than her first.  Again, magic and mayhem notwithstanding.

 

Character Summary:  A loving mother, friendly and flirtatious shopkeeper, and active Ponyville citizen.

[RainbowFoxxy]