Bubble Pop

[pfluff]

-General Stuff-
my life's not in order

Name: Bubble Pop
Nickname/Alias(es): She goes by simply Bubble in her everyday life, but she has two different pennames. For the novels for young fillies and colts she uses Artpop ("Because... pop... and this is art... right? - Why are you looking at me like that? It's not that dumb is it?" - Bubble) whereas her pen name for novels directed towards an older audience is simply B.P.
Race: Unicorn
Gender: Female
Age: Mare (About 26)
Additional Status: She has a few novels out, mostly books you would find in the young filly/colt section of a bookstore. However, she does have a couple of books for mares (romancy-type stuff). Her children's series is The Chincoteague Isle Pirates while her latest romance was Fetlocks and Coronets.

Back of The Chincoteague Isle Pirates, Book 1

Captain Ivory and her mix-match crew have always given the law trouble with their swashbuckling ways. In fact, after their last scheme they've found themselves at the end of the Navy's patience. The pirates are given a choice: Give up their pirating ways or give up their freedom. That is, until a dark force begins to make its way over both land and sea that threatens all of Equestrian kind. In order to stop this evil force from destroying their home, the pirates find themselves on the right side of the law as they join forces with the Navy to bring down their new enemy. Unfortunately, Captain Ivory has agreement issues when it comes to working with the Navy's captain, Sapphire Clockwork. Will they be able to put their differences aside long enough to save Equestria? Or will it fall while Ivory and Sapphire are busy arguing?

Back of Fetlocks and Coronets

Lemon Fizz always had four left hooves despite working in a dance studio as a secretary. She watches the beautiful dancers of all kinds- from the elegant ballroom waltzes to the energetic jazz- and dreams of being able to join them on the floor.

The handsome stallion Thunder Riff always danced alone. Dancing with another pony would only lead to missed beats, improper balance, and an all-out mess on the floor. There is only one other pony he would ever dance with, the talented and beautiful Prism Gaze. But when Prism Gaze injures her leg badly just weeks before an important performance, Thunder Riff finds himself in a desperate situation. The only other available pony for the performance is behind the front desk of the studio.

Can Lemon Fizz learn how to move to the beat? Or will she end up face flat in front of the audience? And how, oh how is she supposed to concentrate when she's so close to the studio's most sought-after stallion?

-Physical Stuff-
i'm overweight, i'm always late

Pelt Color: A pink Appaloosa pony, her coat is mostly one color except for a lighter pink spot that covers most of her haunch.
Mane/Tail Color and Style: Her mane is a shade of green with light green yellow strips throughout. Her mane can be wavy and unruly, and she can be rather on the lazy side with self-care. This means she'll often put it in a ponytail and then feed the ponytail through itself to create an inverse ponytail. This creates the appearance of actually spending time styling.
Eye Color: Her eyes are a pastel orange color.
Cutie Mark: Her cutie mark is that of a thought bubble with the tailing bubbles pointing towards her withers.
Other Scars/Markings: None, just the color breed markings.
Physique: She's a little bit on the chubby side, which can lead to some insecurities. She does enjoy exercising but finding the motivation to do so can be a bit difficult. This results in a pony who has a bit of extra fluff, though she's also got the muscle underneath the fluff. She loves the idea of being strong, and her strength is a point of pride.

-Social Stuff-
my family is dysfunctional, but we have a good time killing each other

Current Residence: Ponyville
Job: Author
Mother: Standing Ovation always knew she wanted to direct, ever since she was a filly. The Earth pony certainly knows how to command a room and because of it she's become one of the most highly valued directors on Bridleway. She ended up meeting her husband while working on one of her earliest productions. May be adoptable
Father: Clear Vision is a unicorn stallion who works in theater as a set designer. He's highly skilled when it comes to designing beautiful sets for actors to perform with. He's created the sets for some of the top Bridleway performances. May be adoptable.
Sibling(s): Dramatic Pause is her younger sister who lives in Manehatten with their parents. The Earth pony is an up and coming actress, already having been in a couple of key productions on Bridleway such as Hinny of the Hills. May be adoptable.
Other Family: Miss Delight is Bubble's grandmother on her father's side. Out of all of her family members, she feels closest to her grandmother. Her grandmother is a seamstress living comfortably in Fillydelphia. May be adoptable. 
Closest Friends: None yet!
Courting/Courted By: "Does it count if they're fictional?" - Bubble
Mate: "...See above." - Bubble
Foal(s): "...I should probably check off one and two first, right?" - Bubble

-Personality Stuff-
i know I'm not the only one who spent so long attempting to be someone else

Likes: Bubble is a pony who absolutely loves to travel and explore. Growing up she would beg her parents to let her travel by herself to visit her grandmother in Fillydelphia, and when she finally reached the age where they said "yes" she was absolutely ecstatic. Now that she's not only old enough to travel by herself, but also earning bits on her own, even more places have opened up to her and her travels. She's not afraid to travel alone either, in fact, she loves being by herself. Rarely does Bubble get lonely, always able to occupy herself with a book, with her writing notebook, or even with her daydreams.

Bubble also has a weakness for sweets. Sour candy, sweet candy, tart pies, sweet fruit pies, fluffy chocolate pies, anything that's sweet and supposed to be for dessert, she'll go after it in a heartbeat. However, she's started trying to control herself more around sweets like this. She's trying to get fit again! "But... a little nibble won't hurt, right? In fact... it's bad if you... completely deny yourself, right?" Besides, one always has to reward themselves after a good workout! 

And of course she loves to write. She prides herself in her imagination and loves to daydream, often her daydreams find themselves written into her notebooks. She constantly has her notebook with her and has filled many like it. Her room at home has a shelf dedicated to all of her filled journals. The other shelf is filled with the stories that she's read over and over again, the ones she's been inspired by. As an avid writer, she of course is an avid reader. Some pony classics are there, such as some of the Daring Do novels, she also has a few of her favorite comic books and her childhood favorite series, Trottingham Detective Agency. Her taste in literature is expansive, but when it boils down to it most of her favorite reads have a few things in common: magic, travel, and adventure. Oh. She's also a bit of a hopeless romantic- so she has a couple of favorite cheesy romance novels that she just has to read. "You know. For... research."

Dislikes: So it's been noted that Bubble loves her alone time. Now, she doesn't dislike being around ponies initially, but for long periods of time it starts to wear on her. If she has social events a few days in a row, she starts to get worn down. At best this means she'll be more quiet and more prone to crying, at worst she'll start getting short tempered. This same sort of social exhaustion can occur if she's in a place she deems boring. Art museums, for example, bore her to no end. While she can understand the importance of a painting, understand the significance of the scene, it's just not interesting to her. In fact, the only type of museum you could probably get her to is a science museum. And event then, it has to be a fun museum. One with activities and buttons to press.

Other places she highly dislikes is the outdoors. There are bugs and there's sand- oh geeze, does she dislike sand. Sand gets everywhere and it doesn't come off. Beach-type sand that is. She much prefers to be inside and observing the outdoors.

Though she loves to write and read, she will never touch anything with the label of "horror" on it. Her imagination is too active, if she reads something that scares her she won't be able to sleep for the next month. So anything of the "horror" genre is a giant nope. Just as scary for her is having other ponies read her unfinished work. She doesn't like when someone reads her notebooks. It's not a diary, so there's nothing personal pertaining to her life, but they are her thoughts. Her rough thoughts that would later be stories.

Motivation: She has a few different things she wants out of life. In her personal life, she wants to make her parents proud of her. She feels as though they were a little disappointed when their daughter moved away from the theater life. She also wants to make her grandmother even more proud.

In her career life, she wants expand her audience, giving everyone who reads her books an incredible story. If a filly or colt picks up one of her books and is inspired to write, act, or play because of it, she's happy. If she could write one of the most beloved series for fillies and colts, like the Trottingham Detective Agency series was for her, she would feel like a complete success.

Also, she dreams of finding her true love some day. She's always keeping her eyes peeled for that special somepony.

Strengths: Her writing is definitely one of her strengths. She's practiced hard, going through revision and revision, she's faced rejection and criticism and she's come through it a better writer. Her fanbase may not be enormous, but she does have fans who are dedicated to her series. And it's for them that she strives to make each book better than the last.

She can also be very motivated when writing (after she actually starts writing, that is). She can write quick, regardless of how much plotting she had done beforehand. This is due to her exercises she did in the past where she just began to write and never stopped to look over the work until it was done. Through this she's been able to power through up to fifteen to twenty pages a day- unedited, of course. "Editing's easy, the hard part is getting it written!" - Bubble. This is a point of pride for her, and she continues to try and build up her writing speed. She saves the revising for another day.

Despite needing her alone time, she can converse easily with ponies. She isn't shy or nervous around other ponies most of the time. In fact, she really does enjoy talking to other ponies and views this as an opportunity to figure out how real ponies work, speak, and think. She considers everyone a friend at first until they give her reason to believe otherwise. This is probably mostly due to the fact that she's very open-minded. As an author she feels she needs to try and learn and understand as much as possible. As a traveler, she feels it's even more important to be open to new experiences. After all, what a waste of an adventure if you don't try something you haven't before. Through her open-mind she's willing to try anything once, some things twice, and she'll do it taking notes.

On a more practical note, she's very good at reading maps and she does understand how to use a compass. She doesn't like the outdoors much, but the pirate crew she writes has a navigator. In order to write the use of the compass correctly, she had to learn how to use one herself. She rarely gets lost on accident ("The best way to travel is to go with a plan and a direction and end up side-tracked and a little bit lost," - Bubble). As long as she has a map, she'll walk confidently.

Weaknesses/Flaws: Taking criticism has been a struggle for the mare throughout her life. She understands as an author, criticism is necessary. It's how one improves. However, it has taken her a long time to be able to be able to not take constructive criticism personally. Despite knowing that the person giving her feedback does not mean any of it personally, she still will inadvertently take it a little personally. She doesn't act on those feelings, but if there's a lot of criticism on one of her drafts, she'll get down- feeling like it meant she wasn't good at her craft. This isn't true, she knows in her mind, but sometimes the heart and the mind don't coordinate quite well enough.

Along this same vein, she is very hard on herself. She's a bit of a perfectionist, and her drive to be as much of a point of pride for her parents as her sister is makes her push herself harder. This will lead to her getting frustrated and discouraged. There are some nights where she gets so discouraged that she'll go to bed without writing much. However, this feeling usually passes. Especially when she receives fan mail (which happens often enough). That's usually enough for her to pull herself out of her discouraged mood.

Making her feel like she's a bit annoying, Bubble cries easily. She can be very empathetic- and if something is particularly touching or something could be considered particularly sad- she'll tear up a little. When she was working as a waitress, if someone was correcting her (even if they were being nice about it), she would run the risk of crying a little. It's a bit embarrassing for her, honestly, but she hasn't been able to stop. So she just has resigned to her easy tears and when she feels it's coming on she'll make an excuse to get the heck out of there until she gets her emotions in check.

So it was covered that she can be very motivated once she begins writing. Starting? Ha. Ha. Yeah. That's much harder. She's a horrible procrastinator at times, wasting time until mere hours before her deadline. Following that, she can also be very lazy. She could start now. Or she could take a nap and then do it later. Everything can be done later. This has come to bite her in the back every once in a while, but she has trouble learning her lesson.

When conversing with her, it can be clear that her mind is somewhere else. The conversation will start out strong before she begins to teeter off, her sentences making a little less sense. She's just distracted by her own thoughts, and might need a little poke to get back into the current conversation. Especially if she hasn't had time to herself, her mind will wander more.

Fears: On a practical level, anything spooky or scary will stick with her for a long time. Nightmare Night, while she enjoys especially because of candy, is one of those nights that can fuel her nightmares for the next few months. She isn't afraid of putting up small ghost pony decorations or pumpkins, but when it comes to listening to the tales and being spooked she's checking out. That is not something she's interested in.

She's also not very fond of shadows. When she was a filly she slept with a night light on for a while until one day she realized... the light created a shadow. The shadow could be anything, and seeing it meant it was there. So she turned it off. In the pitch black night she couldn't see anything- so there was no proof anything was there. That made her much more comfortable. She hates shadows still and at night the shadows will spook her most.

On a mental level, she's always terrified she's going to let down her readers. She works hard to make sure each of her novels is better than the last. She won't publish something she isn't 100% proud of. She's coming up on the fourth book in her Pirate series and her third romance novel. So far, each book has had pretty good reviews. Her worst fear is she'd release the fourth book only to have ponies give the feedback "It's not as good as the last one."

While she's already accepted that she isn't quite the pony her parents had in mind, she knows her grandmother holds her in incredibly high regards. One of her greatest fears is letting her down. She doesn't want to mess anything up bad enough for her grandmother to say that she's disappointed in her. That would be crushing, worse than having her fourth book be not as good as the others. Worse than watching ten horror films in a row and then being put in a room full of shadows. She is determined to not disappoint her grandmother.

One of her fears she feels is a bit more silly, but still bothers her, is the fear that she'll never find a special somepony. She loves the romance novels she's read and dreams of beings swept off her hooves by a dashing stallion. However, she doesn't go out much and she spends a lot of time inside writing and reading. When travelling she's often content being by herself and exploring, not spending enough time in one spot to really build friendships that could blossom into romance. She's acutely aware that she isn't getting any younger, and she still hasn't found anyone close to a special somepony. She hopes the fear is as silly as it seems, but she has an itching feeling that maybe it isn't as silly as she wants it to be.

Overall Persona: The path she took to her current place in life wasn't easy. And at times it didn't even feel worth it. However, she is now fairly happy pony looking forward to succeeding even more in her career and personal life. Day-to-day she carries herself pleasantly, always being as polite as she can be, saying "please" and "thank you." She does enjoy making friends, and has learned how to listen to herself. If she feels a bit exhausted from social interactions, she's good at excusing herself from the social situation to spend some time alone. Once she's recharged she's up for venturing back out into the social scene. Unfortunately, while she does enjoy making friends, maintaining those friendships can be a little bit more difficult for her. If she spends too much time by herself, she can find herself too comfortable and too unwilling to go out and socialize since it's just so. Much. Effort.

She isn't really a party pony either. While Bubble loves the thought of parties and having a great time at them, the truth of the matter is she just isn't as crazy about them in practice. The thought of going to a party at first would seem fun, then it would seem bothersome and taxing, and if she can convince herself to just go there's a chance she would have a good time. But she does end up wanting to leave early, not the kind of pony who likes staying out too late. Instead, she'll return with a couple of hours before midnight to spare and spend her time writing or reading instead.

Part of her social exhaustion comes from her own mind overworking. She can be very self-conscious as a slightly pudgy pony with not very practiced social skills. There's the constant concern going through her mind of: Is this pony just humoring me? The other pony could be giving her absolutely no reason to think such things, but she will still think it. In fact, there's a very good possibility that this whole thing with her parents having more pride in her sister is just something she's imagined as a result of her own feelings of insecurity. After all, in Bubble's mind, Dramatic Pause is stunning, better at socializing, and way more in line with their parent's passions than she is. Her grandmother tells her though that her mother and father are just as proud of their author daughter as they are their actress. But Bubble isn't quite sure. In fact, there's no guarantee she'd ever be completely convinced.

Another thing that can get in the way of her building long-lasting relationships is her love of new beginnings. Okay. That sounds strange. But it proved to be her biggest difficulty with her Pirate series. She would constantly want to start over. There is little that is more comforting to Bubble than a plain, clean sheet of paper with no plans for it. Just the sight of that paper means there is an infinite amount of possibilities of what it can hold. Will it hold her best life's work? Will it hold a doodle? The number for somepony special? Anything is possible when there's nothing in the past and nothing planned for the future. This refreshing feeling is one that Bubble can get when she travels and moves towns. Suddenly, she has no history with these ponies. She's the new pony. And there's nothing she loves more than being that new pony. She can be anything she wants in this new town. She gets to choose a new persona to act. Does she want to be the calm and quiet pony who spouts wisdom at the drop of a hat? Or the super friendly pony that every pony wants to be friends with? Anything is possible.

A little quirk of hers comes as a result of her writing. A good author does research about what they're writing. It's not uncommon to see Bubble venturing into a store of little personal interest only to study up close something she's writing about. She'd venture into a stallion clothing store to observe and feel the material of the items, she'd stare at a sandwich she ordered that she didn't even like just to get an idea about how it looked, felt when she took a bite, all that weird stuff an author would do to just be able to take their book to the next level. She also loves sitting in parks and cafes near ponies talking to just listen. She'll eavesdrop on any and all conversations- but not really for the content of the conversation. Instead she's listening to speech patterns and how the conversation flows from one point to another. If the conversation is interesting, she'll write down the words and then create a story around it later just for kicks.  

History/Background: Bubble Pop was born on the closing night of one of her mother's most successful shows. In fact, her mother was so determined to stay until the curtain closed that she nearly had her foal right there in the theater. Then around midnight in the Manehatten hospital, the couple welcomed their first foal into the world.

The filly spent more of her life in the theater than she did at home, her parents continually working on show after show. When she got a little older she found herself on stage occasionally if there was a part for a filly. But despite her parent's enthusiasm, she never quite felt completely comfortable on stage.

A couple of years later her younger sister was born, and her parents again put their filly on stage when there was the right part. Unlike Bubble, however, Maddie (As Dramatic Pause would go by later) loved being involved in productions on the stage. In time, Maddie appeared on stage more and more while Bubble appeared less and less. This, however, was no heartbreak to Bubble. Instead, she spent more time with her grandmother who would come by to watch the foals during the longer rehearsals.   

One particular day, Bubble was with her grandmother while Maddie, her mother, and her father were all putting the finishing touches on a show. Her mother was polishing up a scene that had given the cast trouble, Maddie was watching the show coming together as she tried to remember her one line ("No mother, you were talking about Vanillaflake. Why are you lying, silly?"), and her father was busy setting up the stage. For the first time, Bubble felt left out. Her entire family was somewhere while she was with her grandma, eating ice cream.

Miss Delight noticed her grandfilly's demeanor change, and asked about it. Her answer didn't start with tears, but it certainly ended with them. Her parents were so proud of her sister, and they were spending so much time together and she wasn't spending any time with them but she didn't want to spend time with them in the theater because she didn't like the theater because it was boring and smelled musty and everyone was always working. 

"Well, sweetheart, what do you want to do?" The question was revolutionary. But not at the moment. The little foal was crying into her ice cream as she felt torn between spending time with her family who was always working and not being bored out of her mind in a theater. Miss Delight spent the next half hour comforting her grandfilly before the two left the ice cream shop. 

It was then that Miss Delight got an idea. There was a used bookstore down the street, and Miss Delight had a feeling they would have the book series she was looking for. It would be a bit difficult for the filly who was just learning how to read to read on her own, but with the help of her grandmother the series became the most important part of her life. The fiction series was called Trottingham Detective Agency by Rogue Draft, featuring the mare Caramel Strike and her stallion companions Basketbolt, and Copper Flitter as they traveled all over Equestria solving mysteries. 

Just like that, Bubble was hooked. Suddenly, spending time with grandma didn't mean being left out of the theater life (as unintentional as it was on the part of her parents)- but instead it meant reading the next book in the series, or rereading an old one. One day as they finished the last page of the latest book in the TDA series, she asked her grandmother how stories like this were made. By the end of the day, Bubble found herself in possession of a brand new quill pen, some ink, and a beautiful notebook for all of her own stories.

She wrote her first "book", Stage Call, as a gift for her mother's birthday. The book was twelve pages long, complete with a table of contents (Three chapters! - four pages each) and pictures. Her grandmother had helped her bind the pages together with string and she had created a cover for it out of construction paper. The story was about a superhero director who shared a name with her mother. The heroic mare flew around Manehatten saving performances along with her sidekick, Clear Vision. On her birthday, when Standing Ovation received the gift, she was floored, showing the book made by her filly to her entire cast next rehearsal. Bubble loved that feeling. The feeling of someone being so happy to have a book she wrote was just so amazing that she continued to write stories and give them to ponies for birthdays, Hearth's Warming Eve, and even just because. 

However, it wasn't until she entered one of her later "books" (fifteen pages, five chapters, seven drawings) into her school's art contest (traditional art and prose were both accepted) and walked away with first place that she received her cutie mark. A thought bubble, with the tail leading towards her mind. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't a little confused at first. Wasn't her talent writing? It took her a few years to realize: No, her talent wasn't writing. It was her imagination. Her ability to spin a story out of seemingly nothing. 

When both Bubble and Maddie were old enough to watch themselves, Miss Delight moved out of the big city and to the outskirts of Fillydelphia- where she was born and raised. She picked up her old trade of being a seamstress once more as a hobby and a way of making a couple of bits here and there. Miss Delight visited her family for the holidays, and when there was a break in the show schedule Standing Ovation, Clear Vision, Bubble Pop, and Dramatic Pause would visit Miss Delight. But that wasn't enough for Bubble as she had grown close to her grandmother. Her family was still focused on the theater, and Bubble did small things around the theater to earn some spare bits but she still always felt sort of like the black sheep of the family. Not quite belonging in the theater. Bubble wanted to travel by herself to visit her grandmother, but she was still a bit too young for that sort of long distance travelling. Finally the time came when her parents didn't deem her too young to travel alone, and she took her first solo train ride to Fillydelphia. 

And she fell in love. Not with a pony, but with the freedom she felt. Being by herself, with enough bits to get to the destination and then some. Suddenly Equestria got a whole lot more accessible. As soon as she returned to Manehatten she began to save up, working harder than ever at the theater. She even got some ponies commissioning stories from her, where she would write a pony into a story much like the book she had written for her mother so long ago. 

Finally, when she was just old enough to put her plan into motion, she had saved up enough money to move to a new town all on her own. 

Where did she move? 

Trottingham. Totally not influenced by her childhood series. 

Her move did not come without a self-imposed condition though. She had a couple of manuscripts she wanted to get published. Some were romance books. One was a series for foals like the TDA books she had fallen in love with. She had been published before, but they had been short stories and it hadn't been anything too big yet. She received some bits for her work but it was pocket change at best. She told herself that if she didn't sell her manuscript to a publisher by the end of the year, she would move back to Manehatten and work in the theater with her family. That would at least make her mother happier than she was when Bubble announced her move. Her parents, while they seemed to be encouraging her writing career, couldn't always hide the disappointment (was it disappointment?) they held that one of their daughters just wasn't a theater pony. But at least they had Maddie. Right?

Bubble managed to land a job at a cafe near her new home in Trottingham as a way to earn some bits while she tried to find a taker for her books. However, the process of getting published was less than encouraging. Bubble sent out her manuscripts constantly, learning a simple duplication spell to expedite the process of creating copies of the thick blocks of paper. Unfortunately, she received letters of rejection just as often as she mailed the manuscripts.

As the year wound down, Bubble was running low on bits and hope. Her self-set deadline had arrived, and with no one answering her hopeful letters with a yes she sent out one final manuscript and began to pack up her small apartment. A week later she was ready to leave when she received the letter that would change her life: The Chincoteague Isle Pirates, Book 1 was going to be published.

She now moves around every once in a while, but she always has time to visit her grandmother in Fillydelphia and she makes it a point to watch at least one of the performances of each play that her family works on. She's coming up on publishing the fourth book in Pirates and has moved to Ponyille recently specifically to research what a small, close-knit town feels like for her next romance novel. And who knows? Maybe she'll find more than just inspiration in this quaint little town.

well i'm over it.

song - secrets by mary lambert
all books and characters (except Daring Do)
belong to me.
please no one steal

((Hope this is okay. Sorry about the 
picture's quality. I'm not a great artist
so that's as good as it's gonna get haha.
Also, I hope it's okay that I mentioned
the Daring Do series. Sorry for the
little note after the song title. I've
been on a site where someone had
their character flat-out
stolen and used elsewhere
without their permission.
Thanks for
your time!))

[CableZ]

wow, Wow, Wow! WOW!

It took me an entire day to get through this app (I'm not that slow of a reader its just I'm very busy and I do quick glances at the site.
So yeah, you took up an entire day of the big bad CableZ time

Worth this though. This is one of the best apps I've ever seen on this site, top 10 easily and perhaps in the top 5 at that. Truly fantastic. Well thought out, well written. You've stuck to the show beautifully while making a character that feels real, a character that you could imagine living out their life while the stuff in the show went on which I think is the best thing a character can do.

I look forward to seeing what you do with this character (and her meeting MY author character )
It is with a happy tap of my keyboard that I announce this character to be...