Birthday Bios: Kernel Grin · 5:05pm Oct 18th, 2016
Ever wonder what little Kernel would look like as an adult?
Well, here you go, Flora’s youngest brother as a full grown stallion. I betcha he makes all the neighborhood fillies swoon with his beautiful muscles (he totally takes after his dad). Helps that outside of the workout he’s doing here, he has a generally upbeat and friendly attitude.
Also, I kind of want to change his name to something less awkward (like some different word that goes much better with “Kernel”), but it feels too late now. 
Anyway, I shall now cover the youngest Flower-Wood below.
Kernel Grin was born in Neighton, Salt Lick Valley, as the eighth and last foal of March Redwood and Honeysuckle. His seven older siblings—Flora Peace, Bananas, Ash Tree, Olive, Alfalfa, Amber Waves, and Willow—welcomed him to the family with open arms. Quite frankly, he enjoyed the attention a lot as a little baby. He even enjoyed the times that Willow would apply makeup on him.
Kernel was always a curious soul. He had a tendency to wander off to investigate some one thing or another, sometimes getting into trouble in the process. Typically, he’d be investigating the various ponies that visited his mother’s inn, and wanted to strike up a conversation with them. The majority of the inn’s guests found him adorable, and jokingly asked Honeysuckle if they could bring him home.
If he wanted to play, he was going to play. There were a million toys at the house, both his and his older siblings’, to play with. He typically got into Amber’s roleplay costumes, with the knight being his favorite. With big sister Willow as the princess, he was going to defend her from dragons and evil ponies and stuff. Sometimes he got narrator Amber and bard Bananas to play along with them—even if the latter would suddenly become the tickle monster--and got pointers from Ash Tree on how to build a box castle. There were even times when fellow knight Olive and mystical druid Alfalfa lent a hoof, and whenever she was hope from school, Flora was a helpful wood nymph in the game.
It was no secret that Kernel admired his father greatly, and wanted to be as big and strong as him when he grew up. Whenever March did a workout, Kernel would join him and be attempting to copy the exercises. He had a little trouble with the weights, since they were too heavy for a little colt like him to lift, but March always asked for his help in counting (just to make the little guy feel helpful).
When starting school, he made friends fairly easily. During recess, he’d be seen bouncing a ball around with his fellow colts, playing jump rope with the fillies, running and climbing around the playground, or playing an imagination game with any given group of ponies. His general upbeat attitude was infectious, and even though a few bullies have tried to rain on his parade, he still had a high approval rating from most of his peers.
He wasn’t even ten when he became an uncle, and he would enjoy playing with his nieces and nephews for years to come. He was typically a monster they had to defeat, like the tickle monster or a hug zombie. He liked to brag about being an uncle to his friends, which got a little annoying at times, and when he hogged the attention of his nieces and nephews, he’d end up getting into fights with his still unmarried siblings.
Given how much he loved everyone, it was no surprise that when a fire broke out at school, he made sure that everypony got out safely before escaping himself. He had to go to the hospital to be treated for burns and smoke inhalation, and was scolded for being so foolish. However, much to his parents’ surprise, he showed off his new cutie mark, remarking that he was just like his dad.
As a teenager, he took to participating in team sports, and now did workouts alongside his father. While he enjoyed being part of a team, still valued his friendships, and admittedly liked the attention of young ladies, he wasn’t planning on a career in sports. He mostly did it because he wanted to build up muscle and endurance for his goal of following in his father’s footsteps in joining the military. After all, he didn’t get that star on his flank for nothing, and he couldn’t think of a more appropriate destiny for him.
While less prone to imagination games with his friends (who had lost theirs growing up), he still kept his for the sake of his growing number of nieces and nephews. He also liked to teach any who were interested about the sports he played, and carried them around in pony-back rides. And during those days when his adult siblings were living their own lives, he’d typically be by his sister Willow’s side, often defending her from those who derided her (Willow’s friend Kitty Hem doing the same when he wasn’t around).
After years of preparing, Kernel went ahead into military training when he was an adult. He tried so hard not to cringe at some of the showoffs that were in his unit (his father warned him that showing off was a quick way to get in trouble), and sometimes, he ended up getting misblamed for whatever mishap happened and had to deal with the punishment. Normally happy and upbeat as he was, he’d admit later on that he could be downright miserable in boot camp.
Still, he’s a persistent pony, and he could tough it out. Those years had him developing kinships with his fellow cadets, and he considered them as his family, just about as much as his biological brothers and sisters were. He was a strong, proud stallion, and ready to take on the world by the time boot camp was done.
When news of foreign raiders invading Equestria and kidnapping ponies for slavery came up, EUP troops were deployed all over the country, protecting towns from the raiders while Princess Celestia had to settle things with the country the raiders were from. Kernel was sent, to his disappointment, a little town called Nickerlite. While he did appreciate getting to see his brother-in-law Stayman’s family, he found the town boring. Still, they protected it from any raiders that could come on any day.
While some of his fellow soldiers took to spending time in the saloon in down time, Kernel preferred to go to the candy shop. He started a little friendship with the candy mare, Butterscotch, simply by talking about his favorite kinds of candy. The conversations were short, and he had to satisfy his sweet tooth quickly before getting back to work. He savored every conversation he had with the townsfolk, especially Butterscotch.
Raiders did come one day, and snatched some ponies, including Butterscotch’s sister Taffy. The soldiers there acted quickly, and got into a skirmish with the raiders that night, but not before making sure that the kidnapped was safely out of the way. Kernel got injured in shielding the civilians, and was out of commission for a couple of weeks. Regardless of that, that battle was a victory.
Butterscotch would bring him candy as a form of thanks for saving her sister. Kernel wondered why she was thanking him specifically, but soon figured out that she had a crush on him. It helped that she was pretty cute, and he thought that when he had the time, he could see where it would go.
He was back up on his hooves in no time, and it was a couple more months before Celestia had smoothed things out with the raiders’ home country and everyone could go home. He made a promise to visit Butterscotch, as peacetime could likely enable them to have a better friendship. And sure enough, he kept his promise and got to know her better.
Back home in Neighton, he’ll often be doing his part to keep the EUP in tip top shape. But, whenever he has his free time, he will gladly be goofing around with his little nieces and nephews.
A noble soul from birth, though that doesn't preclude fun.
Still, I have to wonder, how exactly were these raiders managing to hit points all across Equestria? That's a pretty devastating case of air and/or magic superiority.
That Kernel certainly has sprouted!
4260879 Maybe Diamond Dogs digging deep underground?