She’s a fashionable kirin athlete who embraces the duality of her species, keenly interested in both flowers and fireworks. The gal uses the prior to draw attention to herself and the latter to draw a crowd.

Chrysanthemum presents and carries herself as a well-groomed belle of a kirin, though even a brief conversation will reveal a much more tomcolt (tomboy) voice, personality, and set of interests. She runs a shack of a store called Blooms and Booms on the outskirts of town, where she offers her skill in kirin magic to rapidly grow a plant, with a variety of fireworks likewise on sale. The store primarily serves as her workshop, where she crafts her own fireworks from scratch. The majority of her bits come from travelling to nearby farms to solve problems among their crops, and travelling to other towns to put on grand shows of fireworks, both mundane and magical equivalents conjured from her horn. She revels in the praise that follows a good show, fuel for her ego, and at times will enjoy a fling with anypony she can get her hooves on. Between shows and the rest of her work, she enjoys athletic activities like running, climbing, and wrestling.

Young Chrysanthemum was a very attention-hungry foal. Despite having two indefatigably supportive parents, she took their support as an inherent, pale substitute for the praise she could earn out of others. Quite early, she realized that projecting a refined, polished presentation could earn compliments and respect from others, as well as finding beauty inherently rewarding, though she found rougher and more boyish pastimes otherwise more appealing. She chose to pursue both, getting a kick out of other ponies’ reactions as they realize she’s far more coltish than she presents. “Chryssy”, or “Chrys” among the colts, likewise found amusement in flustering other foals by laying on the charm, though those affections were coquette. Any foal that had her sincere affection was shown it through a mix of friendship and bullying, as the prospect of sincere emotional vulnerability was often just too daunting. A do-or-die competitive drive and active hobbies made her a top contender for most athletic events, and she found the celebration of victory intoxicating.

Her life was upended in the fire that destroyed the kirin village of the Peaks of Peril, losing both parents among the smoke and structural collapse. An unrelated kirin named Foggy Dawn consoled and soon adopted her, later becoming “Mum”. They both wanted to leave after final goodbyes and emigrated with the rest of the kirin who couldn’t bear to stay or otherwise refused the Stream of Silence. In their aimless travels, they happened across a zebra mare, Mamella, with her shy colt, Sebete. The mare hit it off with both kirin, including romantically with Mum, and later became “Ma”. Though deeply distressed and volatile from her loss, Chrysanthemum recovered about as well as could be expected under Mum’s gentle warmth and Ma’s affectionate but firm discipline.

As she grew and her magical ability developed, she found that she inherited much of her dad’s innate affinity for plants, using her kirin magic to accelerate plants’ growth and healing, the staple of kirin agriculture. Mum’s guidance with the casting and the remembered bond proved very cathartic (and tearful) for Chryssy. The filly took on a morning ritual of growing a new flower to wear over her ear, though young her sometimes sported a mane closer resembling a rose bush, primarily for attention. Doing so worked, though not quite as intended. Ample time spent as a rampaging young nirik, inherited from her bio-Mom’s hotheaded nature and worsened by losing her, also gave Chrys a keen insight into her kin’s fiery side. With guidance, she learned to channel it into fire magic, which she then refined into explosive displays of cyan and crimson as a less-destructive way of channeling her emotions, along with wowing and earning much-sought praise from others, as well as donations of bits for the entertainment.

As her new parents grew more serious in their relationship and decided to make a new home together, Chrysanthemum still struggled to rein in her hotheadedness. She remained ever-ready to wrestle or fight, and would be quick to start the latter about any perceived slight against her newfound family. Despite this, she integrated into a friendship of other oddball foals - Tenderheart, Sunny Side, and Berry Biscuits, and became similarly protective of them. While envious as they got their cutie marks, the doomed attempts to get one for herself spurred her to chase her passions even more doggedly. That she inherently couldn’t get a cutie mark, while watching her best friends not only get one, but get one directly as a result of bonding with each other, deepened her insecurities ever-further.

Finding her firework-like shows not only rewarding -inherently, egotistically, and financially- but also cathartic, Chrys pursued the displays further and came to learn that careful mixtures of chemicals could produce similar effects, but in a dazzling array of colors. The craft became her predominant hobby outside of athletics, particularly once she realized that she could use them to let others enjoy the beauty of wielding such colorful effects and explosions. Everypony that knew her cautioned her to be more careful with the explosives, but she enjoyed eliciting their reactions and flaunting her proficiency too enjoyable.

In her early adulthood, as she was reviewing her stockpile of fireworks for a grand show, her reckless disregard for safety caught up to her. Though the exact cause was rattled out of her brain and lost to time, her hoard detonated beside her. Though kirin are effectively fireproof, that benefit did nothing to stop the shrapnel. She awoke days later, concussed and missing her left eye, her left ear’s hearing (as well as half the ear itself), and her two left legs. Though she received more attention and sympathy than ever, she was too distraught from her losses to enjoy it, and her need for validation worsened as she became further insecure.

Outwardly, she recovered quickly, using glass eyes and slightly magical prosthetic limbs to resume living about as she had. Unable to adequately move the glass eye to feign normalcy, she gave up on realistic glass eyes and took to flashier and obviously artificial designs, attempting to own her circumstance, and she still found amusement from others’ reactions. Inwardly, she was also seeking validation that she was still valued, powerful, and beautiful; on top of her lifelong and insatiable drive to prove herself to others. Despite heaping support, she remained humiliated by the accident that she knew was, ultimately, her own fault and could’ve killed somepony less fortunate. Roadtrips to put on her displays elsewhere became a way to escape the perceived shame and an attempt to redefine herself, though she always looked forward to returning to her friends and family.

In short, imagine if Rainbow Dash was a casual flirt and always trying to look better than Rarity. Throw in a hearty splash of Trixie and you’ve about got Chrysanthemum’s personality.

Art by the lovely “https://www.furaffinity.net/user/emptyinside/":https://www.furaffinity.net/user/emptyinside/ (NSFW at link)

imported from https://derpibooru.org/images/3836732