Birthday Bios: Purple Prose · 7:24am Feb 8th, 2016
You may have noticed a minor redesign. Thought I'd give her some streaks in her hair for a mild resemblance to her mother.
One of the few regrets I have when it comes to The Rock Farmer's Daughters is that I didn't write Purple Prose here in a bigger role. Perhaps if I ever get to a fic idea involving Bluejinx and one of the Pie Sisters that I have in my head, she'd have a bigger role.
Purple Prose was born in Manehattan to Navy Stardust and Red Sonnet, the middle child between big brother Harbor Tide and little sister Violet Verses.
Growing up, her mother was often out to sea, leaving her in the care of her father and grandparents. As a tiny toddler, she'd follow her father around, often ending up sitting at his desk and trying to scrawl the words that he wrote. Given that she didn't understand them at the tender age of three, the words she wrote were usually utter nonsense. Still, she persisted in this writing, to the point where she wrote on the walls. Even worse, her baby sister would join her.
In school, she was a natural at writing all sorts of essay and theses, willing to write about any subject that struck her fancy. She would write about her brother's process in making a toy boat to sail in one of the park's ponds, about her little sister emulating her, about her mother's adventures on the sea, or about the family's trips to her father's hometown of Nickerlite and the mines that Feldspar Granite Pie was happy to show them (and that cute son of his, Igneous Rock). She wrote so much, that she became an early bloomer for her cutie mark in writing.
As a teenager, she went exploring around the city, going everywhere she could and writing about her experiences. Several times she ran into gangs, and she had to think quick before she was either deflowered or dead. There are a few times where she had to stab somepony with a pencil or even her horn to get them away from her. She doesn't like to talk about those experiences, and she made sure that Violet stayed away from those neighborhoods.
She also had a job with a big Manehattan newspaper for a couple of years, going out and reporting whatever was happening in various parts of the city. While she did enjoy writing about exciting events, she found that going across the city to report on events was very tiring. Oftentimes, she'd come home weary from whatever was going on, sometimes having nearly died in the event.
Upon adulthood, she decided she wanted to leave the big city, going for a slower life in Nickerlite. While her mother didn't like the idea, she realized that it was Purple's decision and respected that. Red was completely okay with it, Harbor was indifferent, and Violet was quick to join her in moving to the small town. Once there, they quickly got to work at the local newspaper there.
Purple had harbored a crush on Igneous Rock, and was ultimately disappointed when the Pies' Choosing Stone had commanded him to marry Cloudy Quartz. Purple was ready to scrawl an angry article about why the Stone was a load of hokey, but Violet was quick to shoot the idea down, telling her that publishing that in the paper would both hurt the Pies (especially since they were already in distress about daughter and sister Sedimentary Rock having ran off after being humiliated) and reflect badly on her. Purple backed down, and restricted that angry writing to her private journal, which helped her get over it.
A couple more years passed, and Purple, Violet, and a few others, went out to interview Igneous and Cloudy about the convicts being punished and reformed by working on their rock farm. They were attacked by the gang lead by the notorious Roanie, and the group tried to rob them. However, between a couple of the bigger stallions and Purple fighting off the gang with her sharp pencil, they managed to drive most of the gang away and caught a young earth pony stallion by the name of Jasper Horseshoe. The group then dragged him to the rock farm, telling the Pies, "We caught this kid trying to rob us; you have room for him?"
Months passed after that incident, and Purple soon noticed her sister going out to that rock farm to see that colt. Thinking of how much danger there was in going over there, she tried talking to Violet, who to her surprise brushed off her concerns. She tried locking the house; Violet always managed to get out. She tried telling the other ponies in town to stand guard; Violet snuck past them. And finally, she tried going to the rock farm herself and outright threatening Jasper with death by a thousand pencils if he continued to attract her sister like that.
But, all was in vain, especially since the Pies had released Jasper early for good behavior (shortly followed by them discontinuing their convict reformation program due to Cloudy Quartz's pregnancy). Jasper spent the next few years working at building jobs in Nickerlite, and he and Violet often flirted whenever they crossed paths. Of course, he was still scared of Purple Prose, who was still ready to kill him on sight should he try anything funny.
After about five years without any mishaps, Purple relaxed and allowed Jasper to marry Violet. The rest of the family raised their eyebrows at the match, but Violet assured them that he wasn't going to hurt her. And for the next several years, Jasper had proved his worth to the entire family, especially when little Bluejinx was born.
Purple adored her nephew. She was always a bit distant with her brother and her four nieces didn't find her interesting, so Bluejinx actively taking an interest in her work made her happy. She was concerned that Bluejinx was shy around the townsfolk, especially after rough encounters with some of the meaner foals, so she tried to lead him around town and introduce him to some of the friendlier faces. Unfortunately, she only succeeded in making him cry.
However, when Jasper was killed by a fall during an excursion to the nearby mountains, she watched as her sister fell into depression, and a scared and confused Bluejinx wondered where his father went. It wasn't long until she had to say goodbye to them, Violet having decided to move back in with their mother in Manehattan. And thus, she was alone in Nickerlite for the next thirteen years.
Her time in the town was full of ups and downs. Her ups included becoming the editor of the paper, meeting new babies, and watching some of the farms just outside of town grow. Downs included the Pies shutting out everypony after the Granny Pie and Nana Pinkie's deaths, attending funerals of some dear friends, and some fires, floods, or even outlaws coming to town. She sometimes went to Manehattan to take a break and visit family, seeing how her nieces and nephew were growing up. She was more than pleased to see what cutie mark that Bluejinx had earned.
When Bluejinx was eighteen, he had decided to spend the days in between college semesters with her. Purple welcomed her nephew with open arms, and even though Violet had told her about it, she was still surprised to see him being less shy and more friendly as a young adult. She and the rest of her team enjoy Bluejinx's helping hoof, and she's more than happy to think of him as her own son.
Though she's not as fiery and spry as she was as a young adult, she's content with her life as it is.
Wait a second. If Purple Prose wrote about Violet Verses emulating her, does that mean she was writing about how Violet was writing because Purple herself was writing?