Description
Was gonna wait until I finished the World Bits on zebras to post this in the gallery, but there's a lot of info here. I'll just post a link to this piece when I do finish that up. ^^
This is Clara's biological family (Saffron is pregnant with her here!).
Papa Zircon is a sweet spirited jewelry-maker from the Zirconian Zebra tribe. They are known for brown or golden stripes, and for the yellow zircon gems they weave into their manes and tails. He owns his own store in Canterlot proper and designs everything exactly as his father taught him in Zebrica. He experiments with other colors, but golden zircon is his staple. When he's not managing his store, he mostly spends as much time with his family as he can.
Saffron Masala inherited she and her father's restaurant after his unfortunate passing. She still cooks and has earned reasonable success in Canterlot (tourists are her predominant clientele) and has a published cookbook that is truly one of a kind. Seriously, there are not that many ponies from Coltkata in Canterlot, so Saffron really could sell how unique she was to the area. She'd prefer it if ponies liked her cuisine just because it tasted good and not because it was novel and different, but hey, it's a living. Gotta make that money somehow.
Zani is their eldest and only son. He's never not in a comfy sweater, even on super hot summer days. He's not much into talking, but the jewelry he can make rivals, if not surpasses, his father's. He is slated to take over the Zirconian jewelry business one day.
Bhut Jolokia is their eldest daughter. She's a sassy little kid who's bold personality makes her stand out against her more mild-mannered family. ("Definitely gets it from her mother" Zircon jokes). She wants to explore the world to find the spiciest pepper in the world and is sure she will earn her cutie mark when she finds it.
Kashmiri (on Saffron's back) is more playful and less ambitious than her older sister. She likes to draw, and can be seen helping her father make new jewelry designs. Kash is kind of taken by the fashion scene in Canterlot, and wants to add her own flavor to the highly traditionalist town.
Kashmiri was supposed to be their last child. Saffron had her tubes tied, but oh oops shit happens and she found herself pregnant again. At the time they were absolutely bogged down with three children and two whole ass businesses, so having yet another foal was just not ideal for them. Luckily, Sweetie Belle happened to be Zani's foalsitter and she often lamented about how she couldn't have her own child, so Saffron was like "oh hey you want my kid?" and boom! Clara's origin story!