Gray Shield [Ready]

[TheOne]

Name: Gray Shield

Sex: Male

Age: Stallion

Species: Unicorn
Eye color: Green
Character color: Light Gray with a bit darker shades near his hooves.

Mane/Tail/Other:  Messy Mane and even messier tail are visibly darker than his body but they still fill the grey "requirements". On the odd days that he actually do something about his hair, it will appear as a bit curved but fall freely at the side of his face.
A small beard can be visible on his chin with just a hint of white here and there. He has his years after all, and even though he feels like a colt his hair may tell something else.

Physique:  Gray is leaning more towards the thin part of the scale. A bit malnourished but healthy enough to not cause any concern.

He seems to be just a tad bit taller than your average, everyday unicorn but nothing outstanding.

When it comes to scars, Gray owns one, going right above his cutie mark. It has already healed a lot and is nearly visible, but quite easy to spot with a keen eye.
Residence: Gray owns a small cottage at the outskirts of Hoofington, however, he doesn't spend much time in it, preferring to pack his sacks and travel somewhere.
Occupation: He does whatever he can at the current time. If someone needs some help collecting apples and can pay a bit, he will definitely help. It may not be enough to live a luxurious life, but it is enough to eat, sleep and pay for his small house.
Cutie Mark: A plain, yellow shield is visible at his rear. It represents his connection to protective magic as well as his caring personality.

He got this cutie mark back in the days during which he lived in Canterlot. When he started to learn how to use magic his tutor put pressure on teaching him how to use his magic in mundane tasks like picking things up, sorting, lighting candles and similar things. Gray found them useful, however, he thought this wasn't his true... calling. In his colthood (If you can call that a  pony equivalent of teenagehood) he finally found something that "rocked his boat" and it was protective magic. The first spell he learned was a shield spell. Easy enough, it created a yellow, circular shield around the caster. Excited about his first "true" spell as he called it, he didn't really put a lot of thought into learning more, instead focusing on mastering this one. Quickly he learned to change its formes, firstly to a square, then a spinning triangle and after that to more complicated shapes. After a year or so he truly mastered it, creating spikes (not very harmful, but still) and even shapes that looked a bit like ponies out from his shield using only this one spell.

 

One day, Gray, along with his family traveled to ponyville to their friend's house. Usually, this young colt was sitting somewhere in the house, reading a book or just lying in bed without doing much, but not this time. This time he felt a bit more adventurous and decided to explore the nearby forest. Although almost everyone told him "don't go too far or you will get lost" he went too far and got lost. The time flew slower as Grey tried to backtrack but always finding himself back at the same tree, slowly losing hope. After a good hour that felt like an eternity of searching, he sat down under a tree a bit panicked. What will he do now? His mother is going to kill him. Well... Quickly after that, his mother became the smallest problem as a wolf appeared from behind one of the trees. The beast started to circle around him, scanning him from his hooves up to the top of his head. It must have gotten too far from its pack and now looking for an easy prey. After a while of just standing there, shivering the young colt remembered that he actually prepared his whole life for moments exactly like this. As the wolf jumped at the poor Gray, it quickly met a hard surface of his shield from up close. The sudden impact and the fact that his "easy pray" wasn't so easily caught made the wolf re-think his decision and slowly, it backed off, leaving Shield alone. 
After some time Gray managed to find his way back and walked out of this forest not only braver but with a cutie mark baring at his skin. This was a truly eventful day.
Unique Traits: Gray Shield has one particular ability that makes him stand out a bit. When other unicorns can show off with a wide range of different spells and whole tomes of written goods, Gray has one "true" spell at his armory. The Shield spell in which he specializes is his bread and butter. He can form it into almost anything as long as it is no bigger than about 2x2x2 cube and isn't too complicated.
Lately, he has been studying a bit the art of illusion as well, but he is still an amateur in that.
History: Gray Shield was born in an average household in Canterlot. During his youth, he didn't have anything to worry about. A happy family, roof over his head, great meals, and a safe home. What else could he ask for?
When Gray reached early colthood his parents paid for a tutor that would teach him how to use his horn properly. For the first year or so Gray was very excited about using his horn and learning even the basics like telekinesis, but as time passed by his tutor kept on refusing to teach him more and this young colt began to become very ambitious, pushing harder and harder on his parents to let him learn more. After another year of refusal and still learning the basics Gray had enough. He started to ignore his tutor and parents a bit, attending his lessons because of pure obligation. When he was free, however, he would spend every minute of his free time either reading books about magic or training behind closed doors to his room. There were... accidents and he thrashed his room more than once, but his parents were helpless in stopping him so they just made sure he was safe, restricting the magic he would learn to only the protective one. It turned out that it was exactly what Gray needed and from that moment onward he would only focus on one of the spells, mastering it as well as he could. This colt had something to prove both to himself as well as to his tutor and his parents, and Gray definitely proved his point, by mastering this spell on a level that no other colt could do. Well.... Of course, that was with a cost of learning almost any other spell, but hey, at least he had something special about him.

Almost immediately after reaching adulthood(?) Gray Shield decided to travel the world and leave the Canterlot behind him. Why? Because he felt like his true calling was somewhere else, beyond the safe walls of Canterlot. Firstly his parents objected with all their might, but after time, yet again Gray proved his stubbornness and with a blessing and some money he departed on the adventure he longed so much for. Months passed on travels from town to town, looking for a place to settle down. After some time he decided to stop in Hoofington since it didn't feel so much like Canterlot to him and it was... special in its own way.

Buying a house was quite a hassle, especially since he didn't have much money and wasn't planning on staying there for a long time either. However, with help of his friend's help Gray managed to find a small house on the outskirts of Hoofington for a cheap price and even cheaper rent. It was inexpensive enough for him to pay for it even without a stable income but it definitely wasn't something luxurious. 

After staying for some time in his house, bringing a bit of his own touch to the place he packed himself once more and traveled further around Equestria, looking for placed he could be useful in. He visited Applelossa, Manehattan and even went as far as to the border with the Griffon Empire. He had his share of adventures during his travels. Rises and failures were very common and Gray made new friends and enemies everywhere he went. 
Now, he is spending his time traveling mostly between Canterlot, Ponyville, and Hoofington, making use of the time to earn some money and maybe rest from constant travels. Who knows, maybe he will even decide to settle for good. But that is very unlikely. Deep inside him, his heart will always long for adventure and the deeds he can do in other towns to help others. He has this shield on his rear for some reason after all, right?

Character Personality: Gray is always a cheerful fella. Happy to lend a helping hand and support those in need. He sometimes might seem a bit harsh, but he rarely has those phases and someponies might not even see him like this at all.

But even though he might seem like just a nice pony, he is prone to snapping. When you get on his nerves he is easily driven to his limits.
Gray feels like he is still wandering the world to look for his purpose, but deep inside he knows that this pony was made to become a guardian and travel the world helping those he can.
Character Summary:Gray Shield is a bit older stallion with a lot of experience behind him from his travels. He usually can be found on the smaller paths, making his way from one town to another, usually staying for longer only in ponyville, hoofington or Canterlot since those are the places that he holds dear to his heart. To someone that just met him he might seem as just your everyday unicorn but those who truly know him know that they can easily rely on Gray's helping hoof and his hard work. Although he sometimes can really mess something up, he tries his best to control his temper and bring others the help he promised to give.

[RainbowFoxxy]

Looks great! Have a great time here!