She still remembered when she got that first taste and like so many great thing, it had been an accident. A young Berry Punch, sporting a blank flank had sneaked out of bed one night with nothing more than a foal's innocence and a thirst.
Her hooves clicked softly on the wooden floors of her foalhood home as she entered the kitchen. It was true that many would settle for water as a midnight quencher, but not Berry. No, juice was her poison.
It was the sight of the juice that made her eyes shine as the warm glow of the refrigerator washed over her. There like a beacon of hope and wonder in this dark and thirsty hour was a box of...apple juice!?
Berry Punch recoiled in shock and horror as if she had been struck. Laying there on the kitchen floor, the filly's eyes no longer held that spark of excitement; it had been replaced by crushing hopelessness and despair.
This was not right! Her mother knew better! Berry was a lover of all juices. Fruit punch may have been her favorite yet that did not stop her from indulging in grape, orange and even tomatoes. She even adored the more exotic flavors and mixtures such as coconut, kiwi strawberry and banana strawberry. When Berry was in a bad mood she'd even down straight lime or lemon juice.
But this, apple!? No! Pineapple sure, but not apple! Never!
Tears began to form in the her eyes as the true situation struck her heart. Why would her mother do this to her? Had Berry been bad? Was she condemned to endure all of next week with nothing but cursed apple juice to help her through school? With a sniff she wiped away her tears and forced herself to her hooves. She would figure this out!
If she was stuck with apple juice she'd simple trade with her friends! Like Colgate! Only Colgate hated juice, something about high sugar and cavities. Mac only came to school sometimes and he always had stupid apple juice and apple foods with him. It was like he lived on an apple farm or something. Carrot Top was always an option, but it'd be a hard sell to get her carrot juice everyday for a week.
It truly was hopeless...apple juice. Berry's eyes locked on the box with hatred. Wait, there was another box?
Getting onto her hind legs for a better look, Berry balanced herself with her front hooves against the fridge. Sure enough, on the highest shelf of the fridge was a juice box. A very big juice box.
The young filly's mind began to swim with ideas and possibilities of just what kind of liquid gold this giant, mystery juice box held.
Berry had never been the most agile of ponies, but when it came to juice she was nothing less than determined. With a combination of climbing, bucking, flailing and falling; Berry found herself laying on the floor stunned. When the little flying juice boxes around her had vanished, she lifted her head with a huge grin. The giant juice box had fallen with her.
Fully recovered now, Berry began to study the picture on the box by fridge light. It was an image of some sort of red liquid in a glass with grapes behind it. A type of grape juice perhaps? Her eyes scanned the box for a name. Fruity Sangria. She had never heard of that before but it sure sounded good.
The next ten minutes was spent trying to get into the darn thing. It was practically impossible! But that determination for juice once again helped Berry prevail. At long long last, she managed to rip the top of the box off. Next was getting a hole into the overly large bag in the box. With that done it was really foal's play getting a straw into her prize.
For a moment Berry hesitated. She had gone through so much work, risked life and hoof to get to this treasure. Could it really be worth it? Would this strange sangria juice be better than the apple she so desperately avoided? There was only one way to find out!
Wrapping her lips around the straw, Berry Punch took her first sip. Her eyes went wide as the taste struck her, a flash of magic light came from her flanks and Berry Punch's life had changed forever.
