Birthday Bios: Flora Peace · 6:49am Jun 15th, 2016
Phooey, I forgot to draw the railroad.
Looks like the leading mare out of my many OCs finally has her turn in the spotlight! Especially since the designated birthday of hers is one of the two that is the exact date that I remember first drawing her as an official OC (the other is Bell Pepper, which is not for another couple months). To be honest, I only remember the date because it was Father's Day 2014, and I was at a barbecue, so I could track the date down easily. 
In other news, she’s also my favorite to draw as a human. I’m not gonna lie, I really like how her human design turned out. I personally think it’s as beautiful as Flora is meant to be, both inside and out.
Anyway, let’s go down and read about this lovely mare.
Flora Peace was born in the town of Neighton in the Salt Lick Valley. Her mother, Honeysuckle, had always loved the name ‘Flora’, and her father, March Redwood, was expressing his desire for Equestria to avoid a full-scale war in adding the word ‘Peace’. With her name combination, many ponies in the neighborhood expected the Flower-Wood firstborn to be a sweet angel of the highest order.
She was not.
She was a grumpy baby who was not fond of ponies other than her parents. And even then, her tantrums were always sure to keep her parents on her toes. Due to March’s job in the military, Honey often had to deal with the baby all by herself. Dealing with a fiery filly that always demanded attention in every way possible would be considered one of the toughest jobs that Honey ever did. She lost count on how many times Flora had bitten somepony or pushed a fellow toddler that annoyed her.
Still, when Flora was happy, she was one of the most gorgeous babies anyone had ever seen. Unlike most grumps, she liked being called ‘cute’, and she was willing to be a doll for anyone that complimented her. She liked attention, and gosh, darn it, she was going to relish it.
Unfortunately, she had to share the attention from her parents with her newborn brother, Bananas, when she was two. She did not like her brother; not just in stealing attention away from her, but also with his overly cheerful and hyperactive personality. As they grew older, she had to deal with him climbing all over her, playing with her stuff, and laughing his loud laugh as he literally rolled around the house. He received plenty of bites and punches from her, and she received a lot of time outs from Mom and Dad.
Starting school had her going on a rough start with her reputation. When a pony crossed her, they’d receive a good shove or a bite, and she’d have to sit in at recess. Most foals grew wary of her and her surly ways, and the few who tried to make friends with her learned that she was kind of bossy. Thus, she was often alone, with few foals who could stand her.
It was a shame that she sabotaged herself like this, because she loved the outdoors, basking in the sun, and playing in the dirt. An allergic reaction to makeup traumatized her from ever wearing it again, thus she settled with mud baths to keep her cute, even if her mother didn’t appreciate it when she tracked mud in the house.
She learned to deal with divided attention as she gained more siblings, like the moody and reserved Ash Tree, or the mischievous firecracker named Olive—she learned to be gentler when handling those siblings when they were babies. But she still couldn’t stand Bananas, who was still bouncing around the house and couldn’t care less about Flora’s supposed ‘authority’ as the oldest. Still, he seemed to want her attention, and she didn’t want him around.
One day when Flora was eight, she, her grandmother, and her two younger brothers at the time were at the local park by the railroad. While their parents had taken baby Olive for a checkup, the three foals played as their grandmother slept. Flora opted to keep Ash Tree company and play with his hair, while Bananas played with random foals on the playground. She saw him heading toward the railroad for a couple of goofball games, but she didn’t stop him.
She regretted not stopping him when a speeding train came. While Bananas was smart enough to flee, the speeding turn of the train caused it to derail, and the colt was injured and knocked out cold by a car punting him as it tumbled. Flora saw the scene with her own two eyes, and it would stick with her forever. She had sobbed and begged her unconscious and bleeding brother to wake up. When the paramedics came and rushed him to the hospital, she worried that he was dead.
While Bananas survived, he wasn’t himself and was instead depressed and timid. Flora found herself missing his lively and upbeat personality, and blamed herself for not being a good big sister to him. In fact, she reviewed her life up to that point, and realized how awful of a filly she was. From then on, she vowed to turn herself around and live up to her name.
She took a rather large first step in helping her brother recover. She assisted in physical therapy and the mental therapy for Bananas, and studied relaxation techniques to help him calm down from a panic attack. Sometimes, she offered just to be a security blanket for him, no matter the time of day. She even held his hoof when he was understandably scared of taking the train to visit relatives in different parts of the Salt Lick Valley. But, overall, she was going to be the friend to him that she was supposed to be.
It was a couple of years, but it was worth it to see Bananas channel his old, energetic self in saving somepony’s birthday party. And at seeing his cutie mark appear, hers did as well, telling everypony that her part in his recovery was significant.
The time between the accident and her cutie mark also had her swallowing her pride and treating her classmates better. She earned a support system of many friends that gave her an occasional break from supporting her brother. She found friends to play in the mud with, to play dress up with, to meditate with, and to go hiking in the mountains with. She liked to brag about her grandfather and the ski resort he worked at, and the yearly Hearth’s Warming parties her family would have there—despite her hatred of snow.
Age ten was when her third brother, Alfalfa, was born. A year later was when her mother decided to convert the house to an inn—which led to a spat between her and Flora’s father when he was upset over not being informed of it. It was a tense few months, with Flora worrying that a divorce was coming. Her and Bananas’ attempt to assuage their father ended with him yelling at them harshly enough to make them cry. But, thankfully, that snapped him out of his funk. Flora was relieved when her parents made up.
At twelve, she gained another sister, Amber Waves. At fifteen, the next sister, Willow, was born. And finally, at seventeen, her youngest brother, Kernel Grin, came into the family. As the oldest, she was tasked with keeping an eye on her siblings, with Bananas being her second-in-command. The derailment still in mind, she was diligent in her task, even if Olive loved to exploit that temper of Flora’s. She came up with the idea to have them help around the inn, which pleased her mother.
She grew into a beautiful mare, which turned the heads of many of the neighborhood colts and many of the inn’s guests. While she has been on dates, she keeps herself modest in any affection she shows, wanting to save her first kiss for the stallion that would be her husband. She had no idea who he was going to be, but she daydreamed about how perfect and wonderful he’d be.
While she was plenty good with physical forms of therapy (that she figured out on her own from reading, watching, and adapting her unarmed combat training (from her father) into something more soothing and helpful), she also wanted to learn more about more psychological forms of therapy. So, she applied for several colleges, eventually settling on one in Manehattan. After the rest of the family (most of her immediate family, but her aunt and uncle who lived in Manehattan helped as well) pooled their savings, she was off.
Upon arrival, she quickly disliked the city, as she was stumbling upon misfortune after misfortune on the first day. She got catcalled and her flank touched (the offender was bucked in the face. Hard.), a carriage splashed her, she tripped over garbage, and any requests for help in finding the school were either ignored, or rather confusing. And when she had finally arrived on campus, her bag ripped and spilled its contents on the sidewalk. It was enough to make a mare scream.
That caught the attention of the rather cynical and grouchy, but good-hearted Tomato Sandwich. He helped her carry her books to her dorm, and both thought that was the end of it—until it turned out that they were taking the same math class. Since Flora was not very good at math, Tomato offered to tutor her, and it was the start of a beautiful friendship.
She also befriended her playful, mischievous, and show-offy roommate Cirrus, as well as Cirrus’ goofy twin brother Nimbus. She then met Tomato’s friendly and inquisitive friend Bluejinx, and soon, the five were their own little band.
Flora loves the four of them a lot, though Tomato’s attitude has gotten her curious about what his deal is. Over time, she gleaned piece upon piece of his story from both Bluejinx and Tomato himself, while remaining a place of refuge for him when he’s in an especially sour mood. After a while, she got a good chunk of his story, and eventually got to meet and befriend Tommy’s older brother, Cheese Sandwich.
At the end of the day, she’s a mare devoted to her friends and family, wanting them all to be happy and at peace. And while she’s generally a sweet and peaceful mare, she still has that fire from her youth within her, so be careful. You wouldn’t like her when she gets angry.
Yeah, unwelcome passes made at a pony are not going to end well. Nothing says "no" quite like a pair of rear hooves to the face.
In any case, Flora exemplifies your capacity for character building, balancing strengths and weaknesses, good times and bad. The base personality, formative experiences, and interpersonal bonds come together into a distinct and likeable individual who has grown over time. Great work.
I really like how her character was profoundly affected by her experience with Bananas. It would be great to see him visit Flora and meet her friends, especially Tomato.