Raspberry Lemonade stared out of the window of the train, watching the peaceful scenery go by. Her family had decided to move to ponyville so her father could set up a raspberry farm there while her mother sells fresh hoofmade lemonade. Raspberry found it pretty ironic that she was named after her parents’ jobs, and wished she could have a simpler name like her older sister, Misty or her younger brother, Flin .
Rasberry wondered how she would cope going to a new town. Ponyville sounds so much different than Manhattan. Not that She had anypony to miss there. She was different, well, actually, Not different or special or whatsoever, Like everypony in school stated, as She still had not received her cutie mark yet.
She remembered everything so clearly. At Manehattan Hoofling Kindergarden, When fillies in her class was starting to get their cutie marks, How excited she had been. And her impatience when she was the last blank flank in her class. Her friends chatted excitedly about how they got their cutie marks and their talents, while Raspberry would trail behind them, left out. Raspberry asked her mother why she had not receive her cutie mark yet and was given the same response she had heard a thousand times. “ It will come when the time is right. You’re just a late bloomer that’s all.”
When Raspberry was moved up to Manhattan Middle school, none of her old friends were there, and she was teased often. Someponies were nice to her, but only behind closed doors as they thought it would be embarrassing to be seem talking to a blank flank. After school, Raspberry would rush back home, cover her face with a pillow and secretly cry, knowing that she would never fit in, before fixing herself a cup of ice cream berry swirl lemonade to cheer her up.
“Oh Blossom,what should I do?” Raspberry asked the family cat, Sitting on the windowsill next to her, looking at the scenery with his tail swishing restlessly from side to side. The ginger cat did not respond, and yawned, his eyes still fixed outside.
“ Hey, Ras? What’cha thinking about?” A orange filly interrupted Raspberry train of thoughts.
“ Nothing much,Flin,” Raspberry replied, “Just wondering if I would have any friends in Ponyville.”
“Oh course you will!” Flin said, “ You’re nice and fun to be with and mix great lemonade!”
Raspberry sighed. Flin would not understand. At his age, all ponies play together, and do not split into little groups or judge each other. He doesn’t know how complicated it is for Raspberry.
“ Never mind...” Raspberry muttered.
The rest of the ride was silent until the train screeched to a halt, waking Raspberry out of her sleep.
“ Come on everypony! Let’s introduce ourselves to the Ponyville folk!” Mrs Lemonade called out, being her usual optimistic self.
Oh no! Not now! Then everyone will see..... Raspberry panicked as she scanned around for something to help her. At the corner of her eyes, She spotted a simple Red cape hanging out from her suitcase. There! Raspberry picked up the cape and held it up triumphantly. She quickly placed the piece of cloth over her flank and securing it around her waist before dashing out to her waiting family.
“ Here we are. Seems nice.” Mr lemonade said, scanning the town.
“ Finally! The train ride was sooooo long.” whined Flin.
“ I wonder how our new house would be like,” Misty wondered.
“WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME!” A Pony with a pale raspberry coat and a Cotton candy like mane appeared out of nowhere and squealed, jumping up and down with a big smile plastered on her face.
Mr Lemonade stuck his hoof out. “ Hello there, We are-”
“You’re new aren’t you? You are going to love it here! There’s lots of places to go. There’s Sugarcube Corner! OMIGOSH! Do you know I work there? We have lots of treats! Cookies, cakes, donuts......” The pony continued before he could finish his sentence.
Mr lemonade gave a faint smile. “ Well, that sounds nice. We would-”
“ Cool! PonyVille is a GREAT GREAT GREAT place to be! And I have to introduce you to everypony! And gummy, He’s a toothless alligator. He loves punch, Grapes, cake, whipped cream and well, almost everything!”
“ Um, Do you know the way to-” Mr lemonade began again.
“ Once I was at a carnival and I saw a bear juggling pineapples on a unicycle and I was like AHHHHHH A BEAR! And then I was like OOOOOH PINEAPPLES! PINEAPPLES ARE TASTY!”
Misty giggled at the hyper pony, “Looks like someone had an overdose of sugar.”
DO YOU KNOW THE WAY TO BERRY BARN?” Mrs Lemonade asked, Raising her voice to make sure the pink pony could hear her over all her banter.
“OH! YOU ARE THE NEW FAMILY WHO IS GOING TO LIVE THERE? I can show you, It is not far from SugarCube Corner and- Oh silly me! I forgot to introduce myself! I’m Pinkie Pie, the greatest party thrower in all of Equestia! Follow me!” Pinkie Pie beckoned the Lemonade family with her hoof and bounced away.
Pinkie Pie basically greeted everypony on the way and they would greet her back. Some also glanced at the lemonade family and gave them a smile. Raspberry's parents would reply "Hello" or "How do you do?" while Misty would give a small smile and Flin would wave back. Well, for Raspberry, she hung her head low and glued her eyes to the ground when anypony looked at her. She was pretty shy and socially awkward, being nervous around new ponies as she did not have friends before.
Raspberry walked past a few places she thought was interesting. There was SugarCube corner, a gingerbread house. Well, at first glance, Raspberry thought it was. The walls of the bakery were the colour of dough and the roof looked like it was gingerbread. And at the upper part of the bakery looked like a birthday cake, even with fake candles on the top of the bakery. A sweet aroma of freshly baked cookies entered Raspberry's nostrils as Pinkie and her family trotted past.
Then, There was a library in a tree,with the trees thick leaves for a ceiling. Raspberry had never seen such building structures before, as in Manehattan, most of the homes were tall grey skyscrapers and the shops were small stalls in a shopping mall. Raspberry made a mental note to check out these places sometime soon.
“I like raisins more then grapes but I don’t understand, Grapes are raisins and Raisins are grapes!” Pinkie Pie did not continue to talk as she lead the Lemonade family to their new home.
“ And I love cookies and raisins, but I do not like raisin cookies! Isn’t that strange? How can I not like something that is a combination of things that a like? I was thinking about it all the way home. Speaking of home, Here we are at Berry Barn!” Pinkie Pie pointed a hoof at a cozy looking cottage. Behind was a slightly tattered barn and a patch of land that seemed to be abandoned, with weeds springing out of the soil.
“ Well, um, Thank you, Pinkie pie” Mrs Lemonade said gratefully. “ We best get unpacking.”
“Okie Dokie Loki!”Pinkie smiled.
As Raspberry walked through the doors of her new home, She instantly liked it. The walls were painted seashell pink, and the furniture seemed cozy and simple.
“ Wow,” Raspberry looked around the house. “ This is amazing.”
Mrs Lemonade smiled, “ Well, if you are impressed by this, You should see your room.”
Raspberry gave Misty a smirk. They did not get along well when they had to share their own room in Manehattan.
“HEY HEY HEY!” Pinkie poked her head through the door. “Nice house you got there!”
“Thank you,” Mr Lemonade gave a genuine smile.
Pinkie’s head suddenly jerked up as if she remembered something.“Oh YES! I have to throw a welcome party! I’m so sorry I can’t have one now. Too many parties to throw, too little time.And I only heard about your arrival an hour ago....”
“ It’s nothing. We-” Raspberry broke off as Pinkie started speaking again.
“Oh!It would be the best party you will see! We have cake, games, pin the tail on the pony, dancing..... OH OH OH! I will invite all the ponies I know, and I know everypony in Ponyville. And Gummy can serve the punch!”
“We really don’t need a welcome party.” Raspberry repeated, but Pinkie had already bounced out of earshot.
e0A“Well, finally she’s gone. Your room’s upstairs, Off you go!” Mrs lemonade said as she started dusting the kitchen counter.
Raspberry couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw her room. Her parents must have know her better than she had thought.
The ceiling was baby blue, the colour of the sky on a sunny day. The floor was golden brown, the colour of the sand. Glow in the dark stars were plastered the ceiling, So she can gaze at the stars even in her room. Seashells hung on the walls, and Raspberry couldn’t help but think of the beach. She liked how her bed was next to the window, So she can gaze out and dream all the time.
Raspberry lay on her bed and looked up at the plastic star3 and decided to do her favorite thing : Reflect and dream. Misty calls it sulking but Raspberry loves to think about everything.
Well, might as well think positive.What are the things that I would not miss from manehattan... Raspberry thought. Sharing rooms with misty , dressing up well all the time , the pea sized food servings they give in restaurants , Shasha......
Shasha. Raspberry would definitely not miss her. The tangerine unicorn would not live her alone. Hollering “ Here comes the useless one!” When Raspberry entered the hallway. Tripping Raspberry when she walks by and spreading horrible rumours about her.
There was one time when Shasha convinced eveypony that Raspberry was cursed by a witch. The story was that Raspberry was cursed when she was a filly and not having a cutie mark was one of the symptoms of the curse. And if Raspberry touches another pony
during a rainy day, The pony may get the curse and his cutie mark will disappear and he would have bad luck forever. The story spread around like wildfire and nopony dared to go near Raspberry for several weeks. Raspberry had to get a letter from a doctor to prove that she was not cursed and it died down. Shasha couldn’t stop smirking at her, as she knew that nopony would listen to Raspberry but believed whatever she says. Raspberry was so glad she wouldn’t see her again.