Zebra (Zebra) River Spirits (Finished)

[Ancre]

Name : River Spirits

Sex : Mare

Age : Mare

Species : Zebra

Pelt Color : Charcoal black, with thin white lines.

Cutie Mark : A stylized, white outline representing a cauldron.

Physique : River Spirits is a tall zebra ; she is thin, but tougher than she looks. She rarely takes care of herself, and looks unkempt and wild.

Origin : She was found somewhere in the Saddleveil Plains.

Roleplay Type : Mane RP

Occupation : Traveling merchant, guide, or whatever job she finds while she's on the road. She also knows a lot of different recipes for making soups and beverages, and she's a good botanist. She doesn't know how to capitalize on it yet, but she is looking for a way to do so.

Motivation : River Spirits travels the world to collect herbs and plants for her recipes and experimentations. She takes every occasion she can to enrich her botanist skills or her knowledge of Equestria.

Pet : She have a snake. His name is Crossroads, he is quite long, of a silvery color, and the inside of his mouth is black. He can look dangerous, especially when he raises himself above the ground and hiss to scare others away, but he's actually quite timid. He loves to sleep in the zerba's saddlebags, or to curl around her neck and rest in her mane.

Likes : The sun rising in the morning, traveling, preparing food, smoking her pipe, collecting plants, flowers, the sun setting on the horizon, and sleeping under the starlit sky.

Dislikes : Living in a city, sleeping inside a house, being forbidden to go somewhere, and administrative shenanigans.

Character Summary :

River Spirits never had a birthplace, a hometown, with a school and friends like the other foals. Or a real family, with a grandpa and a grandma and brothers and sisters. Or even a mother. She had a father though, and he was the best father of the world.

His name was Horizon. Horizon was a sky-blue earth pony, with a white mane and tail, freckles and great, orange eyes. He had a bundle stick for a cutie mark. He said he had found her as a little foal in the swampy bank of a minor river in the Saddleveil plains. She was lost in the reeds and the weeds and was unconscious and motionless, and it was by chance that he stumbled upon her. Quite who would be heartless enough to get rid of a child this way, they would never know ; but, as muddy and slimy and smelly as she was, he took her with him and saved her life.

He named her River Spirits, because the little foal had no name, and because he had found her in the river. It might have seemed silly, but he had the conviction that gentle spirits watched over his little zebra. The Princesses took care of all of their subjects after all.

River Spirits never discovered why he didn't just left her at an orphanage in one of the cities he visited. Horizon said that she was scared of being abandoned again and that she would never be adopted anyways since she was a zebra. He was probably just trying to convince himself. Even if he never said it out loud, Horizon loved the little foal like his own daughter and was very happy to take care of her ; but he wasn't sure he could give her a good life. Yet River Spirits loved her father as well and was very happy to be with him. She liked her life, and she never complained.

Her daddy was a traveller ; and they spent their life traveling. They never stood in the same place very long, and they lived with what they could gather on the wild, and with the odd jobs Horizon would do when they settled in a city for a few days.

Grass was free, and it grew everywhere, so they always had enough to eat ; but he taught her the knowledge of the plants, which ones were good and which ones were not, which ones would cure and which ones would poison, when will they bloom and when will they wither. River Spirits proved herself to be very good at this. He taught her how to read, too, and when they would reach a city she would spend her time in the public library, reading books, while her father worked to buy what they couldn't gather in the wilderness.

The zebra filly worked her best to help her father, which mostly consisted in remaining calm at the library while daddy worked. She learned to cook, however, and her readings helped sometimes, which always made her proud.

Horizon liked to thank her with sweets he bought with the left over bits from his various jobs. She rarely made demands, but he always satisfied them as best as he could. He offered her saddlebags to carry her belongings, a fancy green hat, pencils and paper to write, simple kitchenware. She was always overjoyed when she received gifts, and did her best to thank him. She gained her cutie mark this way, a cauldron, showing her love for botany and cooking, when she mixed into a stew the many plants they gathered to eat into the simple small cauldron he bought her.

They lived this way for countless years. They visited many places in Equestria, and saw many beautiful natural sights, which the stallion lived for. River Spirits grew up to be a wonderful zebra mare, tall and beautiful, while Horizon grew old.

River Spirits never realized it until the very end. He was weaker than before, and grayer, and they walked less, sometimes they didn't walked much at all. He started to question her about what she planned for her future, what she wanted for her life, but she never understood why. He suggested they settle somewhere so she could make friends, but she kindly refused, saying this wasn't the life he wanted, which was true. He worked an entire day to buy her a pet, which at the time was a strange little egg, and confused the zebra mare who never asked for one.

And one day, he didn't woke up. They had a good dinner under the stars the day before, and he had commented on the happy life and the wonderful daughter he had before he gently fell asleep. Nopony lives forever. But words alone never explained what it really meant.

She cried. She buried him there, next to the roads he loved, and carved his name on a piece of wood, and she cried. She remained there for a few days, alone in her sorrow, and unwilling to leave it. So that's why, she thought. It felt strange – and it hurt – to be left alone again. Horizon had always been there ; she had been lonely sometimes, but she had never been alone. Her father had seen it coming, and had done his best to help her, but now he was gone and she was not and she was completely lost. What will I do, she despaired, what will I do ...

The little egg hatched. A little snake slowly came out of it. It was small and silvery, with a black mouth and a hissing tongue and a gentle gaze toward the zebra. She chuckled. Horizon had such strange ideas sometimes. He was right, though.

River Spirits got up. Picked up her little snake, and walked toward the road again. She had things to do, brews to brew, views to see, projects to build, ponies to meet, friends to make. Horizon had lived, and he had lived well. She still had her life to live. So she walked again. She was still living on the road – it was just like before, in a way, but she had her own goals this time. She travelled throughout Equestria searching for wild plants to collect and new ways to use them. Over the times her skills and her knowledge expanded ; her snake grew up ; and her ideas became bigger.

Perhaps it was the time to have a little house with a real kitchen to call her own somewhere.

[Ancre]

My zebra character is finally done ! Apologies for the very long background.

The board's ruling on zebra's cutie marks are confusing, so I decided to include it anyways. I can change it if necessary however.

Edit : Is the snake ok ? It's a venomous one, and he's not a very small pet, but I don't really intend to play it like a vorpal sword equivalent or something.

That's it ! Thank you for reading !

[BlindJester]

The board's ruling on zebra's cutie marks are confusing, so I decided to include it anyways. I can change it if necessary however.

What do you mean by that? Also the snake is fine we have a pony who is a snake expert so no worries

[Ancre]

What do you mean by that? Also the snake is fine we have a pony who is a snake expert so no worries

Ah, I have read the full OC creator once again, and it's clearer than I first thought. There is this post that says zebras can have cutie marks, and this one that explains that it is subject to change as the show evolve. From what I read I guess it have been decided that zebras do have cutie marks. I think I just confused myself sorry !

And thank you for the snake !

EDIT : argh I finally got the links right !

Edited September 30, 2011 by Ancre

[brianblackberry]

I love the story of her background and with her adoptive father, especially that sad ending. I'll be curious to see how she adapts to life without her father and her struggle to find a successful career around her special skills and abilities.

For Great Justice!

[MyLittlePonyTales]