Soarin' (Tier 3, Ready)

[SteelEagle]

Type: World of Equestria

Name: Soarin'

Sex: Male

Age: Stallion

Species: Pegasus

Eye Color: Hazel

Coat/Tail: Underneath his uniform, Soarin' has a well-groomed and maintained light cyan figure.

Mane: Dark blue and relatively unkept in terms of style, as no sense of style can survive the great feats and speeds that the Wonderbolts achieve at length. In all actuality is kept up to a high standard in terms of cleanliness.

Physique: Extremely fit due to years of training and strict dieting (that leaves the occassional oportunity for something very delicious), with extremely powerful wings.

Residence: Las Pegasus, though his schedule with the Wonderbolts makes that distinction relatively pointless.

Occupation: High-Ranking member of the Wonderbolts and trainer at the academy when requested.

Cutie Mark: A winged thunderbolt. As he was preparing to join his first flight team, Soarin' found part time, colt-safe labor with the Las Pegasus reserve weather team. A huge storm front from the Everfree, wild and untamed, approached with little warning from the deep forest and took to the city of entertainment harshly. The weather teams sprung to action but were each and every one overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the storm. After several hours of intense, prolonged engagement, the storm was beat back and tamed by the weather teams.

During the engagement, Soarin's reserve team went to work just as hard. They went to the top of the storm and with their combined might summoned lightning to strike at the heart of the storm. In this, Soarin' excelled, at one point doing so nearly alone. He summoned a crack and a boom, a lightning bolt of such ferocity and accuracy that he scored one of the reserve team's rare victories that day. While he did not defeat the storm alone- indeed, his part was relatively small on the big picture- what he did was sufficiently impressive to get the attention of the Flight Fantastic. More importantly as he discovered later that evening as he nursed himself back to full health, it had earned him his cutie mark- a massive thunderbolt driven by a pair of wing, derived not only from that day's events but his commitment to see the job done with as much energy and power as he could muster.

History:

Soarin' was born to a well-to do family that in many ways spelled out his future life. His father was Flight Sight, one of the original creators of the Las Pegasus based aerial show team the Flight Fantastic. His mother, Stormwalker, was a bit more reserved member of the weather team and they had Soarin' at a somewhat older age as they were well into their careers. This created friction in the Flight Fantastic as Sight found himself paying less and less attention, eventually leading to him getting removed from the team as he reached retirement. Stormwalker therefore became the breadwinner, leaving Flight Sight all the time in the world to raise the little one to be everything he couldn't be.

From an early age, Soarin' was pushed to excel. He ate well, trained hard, was raised relatively spartan and austere and had his attention focused on his schoolwork and his wingwork. His ambitions were his father's: To become the leader of the Flight Fantastic once more. And in many cases it seemed destined. He was one of the first in his class to master flight. He mastered flight theory and dynamics at an early age, putting on impromptu one-pegasus shows for his classmates. he was excelling but a certain distance started to grow between him and his father. Flight Sight loved his son greatly and wished nothing but the best and sweetest for his little boy, but saw one singular path. As Soarin' grew older and his desires became less focused in on one goal, he started to no longer feel the same passion for the Flight Fantastic as his father did. He eventually told his father just as much, and the reply was not angry or screaming or even pleading. It was much worse: Resigned dissapointment.

Still, even though his goals no longer matched his father's he did find himself in superb shape both in mind and body at a relatively young age. Excelling in his studies meant Soarin' found himself full of free time but that didn't fit him. After much begging, Stormwalker agreed to give him a relatively light and easy job as a reserve member of the local weather team as an older colt. It was not an unusual step- the reserve team often had colts and fillies looking to join the main weather teams and he was an incredibly talented little one. He made several friends and did very well in his training, culiminating in the incident in which he got his cutie mark.

This is when he got the attention of the Flight Fantastic who had made a habit of recruiting from the weather teams. After Strormwalker lost her job for failure to give Las Pegasus enough warning regarding the Everfree storm, the Flight Fantastic became Soarin's best job prospect. He took it and felt as if h would lern to regret his decision. It was a mess, a terrible, horrible mess, with declining attendance and a lazy fliers. He did very well, showcasing his own talents and skills in the sky but it was barely keeping the team afloat.

And he loved it. For once, a real challenge had presented itself and he took it on with all of his gusto. His personal performance was superior to all of his cohorts in such a way that others had to redouble their efforts or drop out, leading to several members quitting and others starting to improve. Soon, he was elected captain of the Flight Fantastic- much to his father's excitemnt- where he did his best to turn it around. They had sunk to such depths that there was nothing he could do to make them famous across Equestria, but he enabled them to carve out their nice little life in the Las Pegasus scene.

This continued for a full decade and the Flight Fantastic found their hoofing and became a steady performance group. No challenges remained and Soarin' became bored. During a duo show in Las Pegasus, the Wonderbolts saw his talent and offered him a position to become one of the high-tier performers in the main Wonderbolts team. He declined out of base instinct but regretted it immediately, finding his performances that followed in the Flight Fantastic suffered from a sense of self-defeat. After much discussion with his team, he left it in the hoof of his second in command and spoke with the Wonderbolts once more. Their previous offer was reduced and he had to prove himself in training camp like everypony else, but he accepted.

He joined the class that followed Spitfire's and just as she was top in her class, he was top in his. The rest is history- he joined the main team where he is Spitfire's second in command and has been a steady presence ever since.

Character Summary:

Soarin' is older than his fellow Wonderbolts, approaching the second stage of his career. This has led in some cases to ponies thinking that he is not as great a flyer as his comrades in wing, but nothing could be more distant from the truth. While others specialize in dazzling feats and speed, Soarin' utilizes skill and strength based techniques to create unique and awe-inspiring displays. As part of a team he is able to play off of others exceptionally well where their contrasting yyet well choreographed styles inspire all those who see them. Outside of performances he is an experienced and calm voice on a team that is often full of type A personlities that can clash on occassion.

Even though he is not as forceful as others, he perhaps less patience than others on the team for those who do not commit themselves to being the best they can be. He understands that life has a way of getting in the way, but outside of life forcing plans to be altered he does not find excuses and laziness encouraging signs. Luckily, his profession allows him to surround himself with others that are of equal skill and commitment and indeed he cannot think of a single instance where he found his fellows lacking.

Outside of the Wonderbolts, he is a gregarious fellow, quick to laughter and ready for a nice party probably as a result of his austere upbringing. He gives most ponies the benefit of the doubt and assumes good faith but can hold a mean grudge if his trust is betrayed. Soarin' enjoys a nice show and is more than happy to stand in a crowd and be a spectator rather than take the stage and demand the attention. He knows what performing entails, the concentration and energy required to perform and entertain, and would never dream of interference. This disdain for interference filters throughout his life, where whether it is waiting in line, waiting to use the bathroom, or seeing somepony do something that seems off-kilter to him, he is not likely to involve himself unless a situation is dangerous or he sees something innately wrong.

He has had his fair share of marefriends and coltfriends, but is married to his love of flight and performance more than anything in this world. He gets needled by some of his friends for not settling down, but hey, who is the one on the Wonderbolts and who is the one working at a law firm after being forced to quit after an accident caused the husband to freak out over the future?

Thats right, Soarin' is the one on the Wonderbolts...

[RarityDash]