-AUTHOR'S NOTE: This one-shot contains OCs! If you do not like MLP OCs, then I suggest you turn back and leave! All rude comments/reviews will be ignored! If you do not like, then click that there back button! Thank you very much.-
The pony gave a small yawn as she stretched out her tired form. Her sheets a bit of a mess, covering only part of her body. She opened her eyes, feeling lazy and completely in the mood to go back to sleep. But she knew she had to work. As much as she loved her garden and selling her product, she couldn't help but smile at the thought of having a few extra hours of sleep. She felt the warm glow of the sun's light hit her, always sneaking its way through the small opening her curtains made and always forcing her to get out of her comfortable mattress. She went ahead and opened her curtains, letting the spring morning light engulf her room. Another yawn as she walked over to her bathroom and took notice of herself in the mirror, her mane a mess as it was every morning, but she couldn't help but always laugh at how silly she would look in the mornings. No stallion would ever believe it even if they would see her. She went ahead and slipped inside the bathtub and took a nice bubble bath. She loved the bubbles and when they floated upwards at times, she loved playing with them, making them land on her hoof, though sometimes they would land on her nose, popping and making her giggle.
A nice bath was always how she loved starting her mornings. She went ahead and removed her towel from her head and grabbed her brush, starting to brush her mane. She noticed the red streaks that were easily noticeable compared to the lovely shade of snow white. Her pink coat was a healthy shine now and once she finished brushing her mane and tail, she checked her whole self. Her cutie mark was a strawberry dipped in whip cream. Her talent; being able to grow the healthiest and tastiest strawberries as well as making the best products with the fruit. Her name; Strawberry Swirl. A lovely Earth pony that was a nice shade of pink with white mane and tail, red streaks decorating them. Her eyes a hazel brown.
Strawberry made her way towards the kitchen and checked her refrigerator. "Hmm." She checked the contents inside and closed it as she grabbed the orange juice and placed it on the table. Once she finished it she threw away the carton. "Mental note, stop by the market on the way home." After breakfast, she made her way to her garden and smiled. Everything seemed so healthy and ready for the picking. As she did every day, she grabbed baskets and filled them with the strawberries that were ripe. Once she was done she put away the ones she would use and carefully placed the others in small hand-made baskets to be sold. And just like every day she got herself ready to head out and sell them at the small town she always headed out to.
- -Ponyville- -
"Thank you." Strawberry said with that smile as another sale was made. She looked at her inventory and noticed that almost every basket was sold. "Hm. New record." She continued her way down the road and managed to sell three more baskets of strawberries to a single stallion. She always managed to sell more than they want with some sweet talk and a little look here and there. It was a small talent on the side she had. A little flirting never hurt anypony after all. That is unless you count their mare-friends. But that wasn't her problem.
She noticed a small light violet filly with a golden mane and golden eyes. She was with two other ponies, one her age with a baby blue coat and lavender mane and violet eyes, and another one - older than them. She had a pink coat with lavender mane, a streak of lighter purple and amethyst eye color. Her cutie mark was three diamonds. They trotted towards Strawberry, the eldest one smiled and spoke: "Two baskets of strawberries, please."
She went ahead and gave her the baskets as the pony paid for them. "Here you go." She gave the light violet filly one of the baskets. The fillies trotted away, giggling.
"Hey! Wait up! Dinky, Tootsie!" Amethyst chased after her sisters. Strawberry put away the bits and started walking when she heard a small yell and then a couple of ponies seemed to have been getting out of the way. She tilted her head in confusion and before she even knew it, something came rushing to her and leapt to her cart and made some of the baskets tumble over.
"Hey! You little-!" Strawberry shouted as she tried capturing the white rabbit that had just made her lose merchandise. "Get away from my cart!" she shouted and was about to shoo the vermin when she heard another scream.
"Naga no! Come back!"
Just as she looked up she screamed at the sight of the big snake slithering quickly and she managed to dive away, but her cart wasn't as lucky, the snake made his way through it, shoving it away and tipping it over, making her baskets of strawberries fly all over the ground.
"Naga! Bad snake!" A silver pony rushed past, squashing some of the fruit, making Strawberry Swirl gasp.
"Sugarcube wait!" Another pony followed the silver one, alongside her was a dog that was barking, both having crushed some of her strawberries. Another one flew by as Strawberry stood up and made her way to her baskets, some destroyed, some fruit crushed and many of them on the floor. She picked up the strawberries and put them all in one basket angrily. She hated losing merchandise.
"Oh my." A timid voice, but the pink pony hadn't noticed as she continued picking up her fruit from the floor. She saw a pair of yellow hooves helping her and looked up, noticing for the first time the yellow filly with pink mane and tail. "I'm so sorry."
"No, it's fine. This mess isn't your fault."
"Umm… well… I uh…"
"Hn?" Strawberry looked up at the stuttering Pegasus. She continued to stutter, a small embarrassed blush on her yellow cheeks. A small giggle escaped the pink pony. "You really ought to speak up more. You wouldn't want anypony treating you like a doormat, now would you?"
The yellow Pegasus gave a shy smile, feeling embarrassed. "I'm pretty sure a small white bunny passed by here, and… well… he's my pet."
"In other words, your pet started this mess," Strawberry remarked.
"You could say that. Angel's always, well, um, he just seems to not get along well with others at times."
Strawberry sighed, holding back the desire to start yelling and ordering the Pegasus to pay for what the rabbit has done. But she knew it wouldn't be good for her image. She was known for her flirting nature and her sweet – but daring – image. "It's ok. No real harm done, I guess" was all she could say as she went back to pick up the ruined baskets.
"Um… How much are these?"
"It is 10 bits a basket."
"10 bits?!"
"They're all organic and fresh. But looks like now I won't be selling the last few, thanks to those ponies and your pets." She hoped the anger wasn't noticeable. "I grow them myself and make the baskets as well. Each strawberry is well taken care of in the garden. I have to make a living after all." She gave a small humorless laugh.
The Pegasus took the only basket remaining. "Ok. Again, I apologize for the mess we've made."
"Shouldn't you be going to try and save your pet from being eaten by that snake?" Strawberry spoke, giving a small smile, inside hoping that the rodent would become the reptilian's snack.
"Oh no worries. Naga's a sweetheart, he wouldn't hurt Angel. Um, I guess I'll see you around later. Bye." With that the Pegasus trotted away with the last basket. All Strawberry could do was sigh in annoyance.
- -Strawberry's Home- -
After a long day of work, the pony made her way to her room and flopped on her bed, feeling her figure aching from the walk. She wasn't out of shape or anything, but she did tend to be a little lazy. She preferred being laid-back. But she knew she couldn't rest yet, she still had to clean up and throw away the wasted products and start making new baskets before going to sleep. Add in watering the plants as well.
She forced herself off her bed and went back to the small kitchen where she had left her cart. She threw away the destroyed fruit and the baskets that were beyond repair. There, besides one of the broken baskets, she noticed a small bag. She didn't remember putting it there. She went ahead and opened it and inside were bits. Counting them, they added up for the produce that was destroyed. Her mind flashed back to the image of the yellow Pegasus that had bought the last basket.
"That little doormat… didn't even bother giving me a name…" A small smile form on Strawberry's pretty face and she let out a small and gentle laugh as she stared at the bits. And with a feeling of gratitude, she added a sincere…
"Thank you…"
-I know it's short, but they're basically meant to show the moments where certain of my OCs met certain canon characters for a reason. So yeah, not much to say. This takes place during my MLP fic.-