Pansy

Name: Pansy
Age: Adult
Gender: Female
Specie: Earth Pony
Cutie Mark: A purple pansy bloom with one green leaf.
Special Talent: Pansy is a great gardener, especially with flowers and herbs.  Not so much with vegetables, but she get just about anything green to flourish.
Occupation: Shopkeeper of the Sprout and Bloom Garden Shop

Appearance: Pansy is shorter than most ponies and she's not particularly muscular, still being a relatively young pony.  Her coat is a light brown, some would say sand color, and her mane is a lilac color.  She wears both her mane and tail long, despite the fact that they get more dirty that way, but that's just a good excuse to go to the spa.  She has grass green eyes, and a set of freckles on her cheeks (normally hidden by her mane).  Her hooves are her trademark though, strong and sturdy, perfect for breaking up hard soil.

Personality: Pansy is a soft-spoken pony, never really wanting to cause a stir.  She tries to have respect for all creatures and plants, and loves that her work lets her do this.  She's quite friendly if you do get her to open up, and will gab for hours about various gardening techniques or landscaping arrangements.

History: Pansy has lived in Ponyville her whole life.  She'd love to travel to other places in Equestria, but hasn't found a good chance.  She doesn't want to leave her plants without care for too long.  Her family were farmers, but she wasn't as interested in growing food, so she decided to open a garden shop.  After all, every home looks a little better with some greenery somewhere.

Pansy was one of the first people to welcome Wordsmith to Ponyville, and they had a couple of very exciting adventures together.  The rumor mill certainly had a field day when the two of them disappeared for a couple weeks.  They both insisted nothing happened except that they got lost in the Everfree forest.

Now the gossips seemed to have forgotten about that little episode.  Wordsmith and Pansy continued to be good friends while he got established in Ponyville.  After a while, it was hard to imagine the place without him.

Other: Pansy's parents sold the farm a few years back when her parents retired.  They gave her some money to start her garden shop, and are now travelling across Equestria.  She occasionally gets a letter or a postcard from them.  She doesn't have any siblings, so she's all on her own, but loves teaching kids.