Ginseng

By MagicalStarRain

• October 6, 2013

Age: About somewhere in his late forties

Gender: Male

Species: Unicorn

Appearance: Dark green with indigo eyes and a mint-green mane and tail. Tall with a broad bone frame.

Cutie Mark: Medicine bottle with a blue aura. Specializes in healing magic and mundane healing.

Personality: Ginseng looks like your average unicorn, but that's only because he never makes an effort to express himself. He prefers to let his actions speak for himself and never boasts. This, along with a laid-back nature, makes him come off as a boring stallion to those meeting him for the first time. However, he's willing to help any pony without much complaint, which sometimes leads to him being used by others.<br /><br />To those who do know him, he's an extremely dependable guy(again, can sometimes lead to him being used) with an excellent sense of humor combined with a dose of snarkiness. He gives wonderful advice(in fact, he's the main source of Star Rain's advice), loves to learn, and knows how to form his arguments. He's also a martial pacifist, friendly with children and usually trying to run or talk his way out of situations without resorting to using his horn and above-average(at least for a unicorn stallion) strength to barrel them down.<br /><br />Overall, he prefers peaceful methods of solving problems and believes that if something is good for him, it's good for everypony. <br /><br />(Equestria Divided) Retains all of his personality, with the addition that he constantly feels like he's missing something very important. He's in a perpetual state of doubt that can only be cleared by having his amnesia go away.

Backstory: Ginseng grew up with five other siblings and lived a relatively poor lifestyle in Dodge Junction. He never even went to kindergarten, because he parents were so busy tending to his siblings. He often was ignored and left to rely on himself, but he didn't mind.<br /><br />He was smart and a blank-flank for the entirety of his childhood. This, his lean structure, and him being a unicorn in a town full of earth ponies made him a target for bullying and he all too often came home with bruises. Even with all of that, he didn't hold a single grudge against them and continued on with his studies at peace.<br /><br />At age 15, his father died. At age 21, he left the house for good to pursue his goal of entering medical school and working at a hospital. It was at medical school that he finally earned his medicine Cutie Mark. <br /><br />After graduating from college and medical school, he took to traveling around Equestria(probably even meeting up with North Shine and Kanon at some point) on medical missions. He kept this up until he settled down with a mare named Dusk and had a child.<br /><br />He named the child Star Rain after the star shower that was occurring the night of her birth. He was the primary caretaker for his daughter, which is what allowed him to take her into his care when he was dumped.<br /><br />From that point on, he and Star went through many ups and downs, from dealing with homework to talking about bullies, from life lessons to the time he fell on a cactus.<br /><br />(Equestria Divided only) [spoiler] Years before the war, Ginseng was a skilled healer who came from a family of six children, including himself. He was very educated in the art of medicine even though his mother tried to get him to learn the piano throughout his entire colt hood. He tolerated it until he finally went off to a medical school and got his own place to live.<br /> <br />At one point, he met a mare, a unicorn named Dusk. They had some nice times together, but Dusk wasn't so nice about letting Ginseng have his way. Eventually, they got married and got a kid along the way. They were both excited about a new kid, but it was a little spoiled when she kept pestering Ginseng about names even though they both didn't know if the baby was a girl or a boy.<br /> <br />A few weeks before the pony was born, the princesses disappeared. Chaos was ensuing and Ginseng began making plans that would benefit his future kid. He didn't plan on going rogue with his family, that's for sure. He became angry at the six mares who had set it into motion, having remembered all the things they have done to keep Equestria safe. And now they're destroying it?!<br /> <br />Still, his kid was the only thing occupying his mind. He cared only about its safety, knowing how the groups would be more than happy to get their hooves on a faction less family- or destroy them. So he ultimately decided to stay in Canterlot.<br /> <br />On the night of a meteor shower, their kid was born. She looked like a lighter-colored version of her mother, only instead of yellow eyes she had indigo eyes like her father. Immediately thinking up a name after seeing the raining stars outside, he said,"Welcome to the world." For once, Dusk agreed.<br /> <br />And welcome to the war... <br /> <br />Years after that, life was pretty much carefree if you take out the constant news on the war and the huge waves of soldiers he spends hours taking care of at the hospital. His daughter was a smart, cheerful filly who occasionally worried about everything. She got along more with Ginseng than she did with Dusk. <br /> <br />The father and the daughter learned magic together, even combat spells. She never enrolled in a special class, which was the better option since it seemed like everypony was training to be a soldier these days. Their times were fun and happy with the occasional bump in the road every so often.<br /> <br />But then, everything changed at her fifteenth birthday. What was supposed to be a fun and momentous occasion became the last time he ever saw his family. He took the mission with a straight face and promised her many great things upon his return.<br /> <br />Not willing to endanger his life or his family's lives, he agreed to it and was taken to House Earthborn territory. <br /> <br />The mission was to perform recon. Little did Ginseng know that that wasn't the case. Twilight was after his daughter and was going to boost her anger by killing him. So on orders of the Archmagister, the mission leader silently snuck into his room with a rock. Just as he was going to drop the rock on his head, the green unicorn snapped awake and a battle ensued. Ginseng battled with a few spells and his physical combat skills, along with his mundane horn. The leader fought with a blade and magic. <br /> <br />The fight took them to the edge of the river they were camped near. Eventually, the leader struck a blow to Ginseng's head and he toppled into the water. The leader believed him to be dead and ended the mission at hoof.<br /> <br />Miles away though, Ginseng woke up. He had survived the battle and escaped with his life and a few cuts and bruises. Unfortunately, he didn't get out with his memory. He doesn't remember anything. How he got here. Why he was here. Where he came from. Who he even was. The only thing he can remember are his spells, his skills, his name, what was going on in the world, and a bright and happy filly who was born on the night of the raining stars. Her name however, he can't remember.<br /> <br />He then saw a village in the distance. Having nowhere else to go, he started his trek toward it.<br /> <br />And his quest for identity began. [/spoiler]