God dammit I am just obsessed with qilin ponies XD Now, if there’s one thing I love in My Little Pony, it’s the Apple family. Not just the characters, but the concept as a whole: a family of ponies that farm a specific fruit and are all named and themed after it. And I just could not stop those gears in the old think box from turning. So, I made a whole family of qilins based on and who farm all kinds of berries, because they’re some of my favorite fruit! And a big shout out to my buddy Powershade117 for helping me with creating this family.
 
The Mei family are a family of qilins in Wu Xing that live on the Mei-Berry Thicket, a vast farm land where the family farms multiple kinds of berries. Now, there is a special trend that goes with the Mei family: their full names include “Mei” at the beginning before their given names. For example, “Mei Blueberry Muffin”.
 
Sambucus Elderberry: The elderly patriarch of the Mei family, “Sam” or “Old Elderberry” runs the Mei-Berry Thicket on his own to the best of his abilities, despite his growing age and frailty. He is very kind, devoted and caring to his children and grandchildren, encouraging each of them to find their destinies in their own way. He tries to help out on the farm still, but finds himself being limited to what he can do by his elder daughter Strawberry Swirl, due to his age and condition. He proudly insists he’s more than capable, but his old bones and magic aren’t what they used to be.
 
Blueberry Muffin: Blueberry Muffin is Sambucus’ younger daughter as well as the wife of Hammerhoof (who affectionately calls her “Muffin”) and mother of Grapevine. In her youth, she dreamed of leaving the farm to pursue her dreams of baking. However, her older sister Strawberry Swirl did not want her to leave the farm as they would be shorthanded in managing it. This put a rift between the two sisters and Blueberry nevertheless left the Thicket. She moved to Wu Xing’s capital where she started her bakery. During that time, she met and fell in love with Hammerhoof and they had a son, Grapevine. However, during a shadow pony attack on the capital, Blueberry’s bakery was destroyed. Unable to afford reconstruction, Blueberry decided to move back to her family farm, bringing her husband and son along with her. She reconciled with her sister and resumed working on the farm, though she spends most of her time trying to restart her baking business, but this time, from home.
 
Hammerhoof: Hammerhoof is Blueberry’s loving and devoted husband. He affectionately calls her his “Muffin” and is always supportive of her dreams in baking. He’s a sturdy and supportive husband and devoted father and uncle. Because of his larger size and strength, he usually takes over much of the physical labour required on the farm that Sambucus can no longer do. He’s an expert at construction, taking it upon himself to design and build any buildings or structures needed.
 
Grapevine: Grapevine is Blueberry Muffin and Hammerhoof’s only son. He helps his father on the farm whether it be with construction or tending to the berry fields. Overall, Grapevine is hard-working, but also very relaxed and enjoys having fun in between working on the farm. He is the opposite of his cousin Raspberry Crunch in this sense and Grapevine is constantly trying to convince his workaholic cousin to take a day off for himself.
 
Strawberry Swirl: Strawberry Swirl is Sambucus’ elder daughter and Blueberry’s older sister. After falling out with her younger sister over leaving the farm, Strawberry met and married a qilin and had four children. When her husband wanted to move away from the farm in order to pursue his own dreams, Strawberry was conflicted, not wanting to leave her father alone with so much work. When Sambucus injured himself while tending to the fields, Strawberry quickly canceled their move to stay and tend to her father and the farm. Time continued to pass however, and eventually her husband was no longer willing to wait. He abandoned his wife and children in order to pursue his dream, leaving Strawberry with a broken heart.
 
Raspberry Crunch: “Raz” is Strawberry’s eldest son. As a filly, Raz was the only one old enough to remember his father’s abandonment of the family clearly, causing him to develop a deep resentment towards his father. Because of this, Raz devotes himself to helping his mother as much as he possibly can to keep her from being too overworked or exhausted, unfortunately winding up overworked and exhausted himself in the process. But, Raz never complains and is always there to help take care of his family. In fact, his own mother tells him that he works too much and she encourages him to go out and have fun.
 
Cranberry Bliss & Blackberry Lime: Cranberry Bliss and Blackberry Lime are Strawberry Swirl’s fraternal twin daughter and son. The pair only work in the fields part time and usually help their aunt Blueberry with her baking. They love coming up with recipes of their own and even help out with making deliveries in berry shipments and baked goods.
 
Sugarberry Shake: Sugarberry Shake is Strawberry’s youngest daughter. Sugarberry does not usually work on the farm, despite wanting to help out like the rest of her family. When she’s not playing with her friends, she’s in the fields playing by herself or with Sen and Shu.
 
Sen Lin & Shu Lin: Sen Lin and Shu Lin are the twin pair of guardian lions or “fudogs” owned by the Mei family. They serve both as family pets as well as guards to the grounds of the Thicket. They typically can be found at the large red entrance gate of the farm, otherwise they roam the farmlands to protect the Mei home. When sleeping, the lions turn to stone and resemble statues.
 
One thing I wanted to try and do every time I make new qilin ponies is try and do different styles of horns each time. For the Mei family’s horns, I incorporated something very specific: as the qilin gets older, their horns not only grow larger but have more curves. Fun fact about fudogs, they’re typically depicted holding a ball, but I substituted that for a strawberry and blueberry ^_
 
Sambucus Elderberry, Blueberry Muffin, Hammerhoof, Grapevine, Strawberry Swirl, Raspberry Crunch, Cranberry Bliss, Blackberry Lime, Sugarberry Shake, Sen Lin & Shu Lin - Zephyros-Phoenix  
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Lauren Faust and Hasbro