Stainless Steel Fox

Clawee grinned fiercely, and held up a clawed fore-foot. "I've got all the weapons I need right here... close to hoof, so to speak..." Then she looked puzzled, "Close to paw?... claw? and there's my beak which is pretty darned lethal as well... Nevertheless, if we mix in this baking soda with the powdered limestone, we should have a mix that'll give that monster a terrible tummyache!" She grabbed a big piece of canvas and laid it out. "Pip, I'm the strongest, so I should get to grinding. I think Mark has gone to fetch a balloon, which makes sense, as his telekinesis will let him reach the hard to get to fastenings. Since you're the expert on airships, you'll probably need to be there to tell him how to do it without damaging it."

I agree with Equestrian Scholar. Reminding them that they love one another stopped an argument that might well have escalated into them saying things they didn't mean and would later regret, and will hopefully give them both breathing space to come up with a compromise. 'Honey, if you really need that hooficure, we'll just have to find the money from somewhere else in our family budget. If we put our horns together, I'm sure we can find it somewhere.' 'Oh my, I didn't know we were that tightly stretched! It's not that I actually need the hooficure dear, so much as that it's going to be a social thing for my friends, and I really wanted to go.' 'Well, I may have been a bit dramatic about that. If we tighten our nosebags a bit, and I wait another month to buy that new couch for the den...' 'Really! But you've been drooling over the magazine with it in for months! You'd do that for me dearest?' 'Honey, I love you, and besides I've got something else to drool over, or rather someone, and she's right in front of me, and even without a hooficure she's eminently droolworthy' And so on and so forth... I stand by what I said earlier that a good character would only be able to amplify love that was already there.

OOC: Rewritten to make it clear that Cloudius is not leaving Sweetie Belle hurt.) Cloudius swooped down and caught Sweetie Belle as she went over, ignoring the cat and the tiara. He set her back on her feet and whirled a wingtip around to whip up another pad of cloud wipe her face scratches. He invested it with enough of his pegasus magic that it would be as dense as a regular wet pad made of cotton, even to a non-pegasus. "Here you go miss. We of the non-bumper stiicker brigade have to stick together." Meanwhile Diamond Tiara was blowing her stack. "RRRRAAAAAAAAGH! I don't believe it! You were so close and you blew it!" she screamed, all her frustration rising to the surface. She spun round to spot the tiara, bouncing back towards Ponyville, likely now covered in dents and scratches. Who knows where it could end up if they didn't catch it? "Hey, take a chill pill!" Cloudius shot back. "She did her best!" "That's it!" she screeched. "I'm putting up a bounty! 50 BITS TO THE PONY THAT BRINGS ME THAT TIARA!" Cloudius inspected the unicorn filly's face, ignoring the raging earth pony. "Like I care!" He continued to wipe the unicorn's face clean. "I could just invest the cloud pad with enough strength and water density to let you use it, manipulating clouds is my talent, despite what my flanks seem to think. Howver as far as I'm concerned, taking care of someone who's hurt takes precedence chasing after some trinket."

I still want to know her origin. For that matter, I'd love to know the origin story for Celestia and Luna. We know they weren't always around, and it's implied that they came to power only after defeating Discord. Is the alicorn template a recessive that pops up in the unicorn genome, or possibly only happens when you cross a unicorn with a pegasus? I can see that in that case, normally the cross just produces a unicorn or pegasus off-spring, but once in very long while, you get an immortal, super powered alicorn. Or maybe it's just restricted to Celestia's/Luna's bloodline. It would explain how you have non-alicorn royal family, like Blueblood. Cadence is therefore Blueblood's distant cousin, and presumably of the same generation.

(OOC: Well, since Cloudius is stuck in bed, he won't be participating until someone actually gets to his room.) Cloudius was bored. His family had brought him a number of his favourite books, but they couldn't stay there continuously, and you could only do so much reading before youwanted to do something else. Normally, he'd while away some time sculpting, but his winfgs were still almost useless, and he currently couldn't raise enough cloud to make a cloud-ball, let alone anything bigger.

(OOC: You do realise that I was cackling inanely the whole time i was reading that post. Perfect, just perfect. You have properly dropped the boom on him, and he doesn't even know it yet. Of course, I have a few taradiddles to throw at him myself.) “I completely understand,” Celestia smiled, the mischievous lilt remaining in her voice. “Don’t worry one bit, my dear Blueblood! I will personally ensure that this matter is resolved. In fact, I will have the adjutant file a formal request for Lanceguard’s presence now.” Blueblood's heart leapt at Princess Celestia's response. He was free! This whole untidy mess would be solved post haste. In fact, he'd gotten even more than he'd hoped for. He'd expected her to just forbid him to enter, leaving him to do the actual withdrawing but instead she was going to deal with Lanceguard personally. A small part of him felt guilty, just a little, maybe he'd overplayed his horn. He might not want to face Lanceguard in a joust, but he didn't actually want her in a prison on the moon for lese-majesty. It was that part of him that added. "Your majesty, don't be _too_ hard on her. She is, after all, only a lesser noble, and clearly not fully aware of the niceties of Canterlot society." “In the meantime,” the Princess said, replacing the quill in its inkwell, “Do continue your training. I think it suits you quite well. Besides, it would be quite rude to so abruptly terminate your lessons considering you have already committed both your trainer’s time and your own.” That was less palatable. However, it was a royal command. He had intended to maintain his training as a show of eagerness anyway, the same day response had brought his plans forward. Though he was surprised she thought the armour suited him. Maybe she'd actually seen his several times great-grandfather wear it for real. That actually pleased him, that she saw his ancestry so clearly in him. Actually, with the charms going, and if he could do something about the dreadful case of helmet mane the helm gave him, not to mention the metal smell, the armour looked quite well on him. And the small part of him that still thrilled at the adventures in his father's journal found other reasons to be happy. He bowed his head. "As you command, my liege." (OOC: Blueblood is a jerk, but he's not evil. All he wants is a little respect.)

Insert half hour rant about how Dumbledore is either a complete idiot or completely evil here. It's the only way to explain some of the choices he made. Celestia is not. She is however a prankster, but her 'pranks' always have some lesson in them. Not that I always agree with them, but at least hers aren't 'letting good people be killed and tortured because you're too much of a wuss to kill the bad guys', though there was also the fact that Dumbles was just as much of a pure-blood supremacist as Malfoy, onlty he wants to control everything from the background. Killing the death-eaters would end a lot of pure-blood lines, something he couldn't bring himself to do. So instead he feeds people who trust him into a mincing machine, turns a school into his own social laboratory, wrecks the future prospects of uncounted healers and aurors by letting a completely hopeless 'teacher' teach potions... In no way can anyone compare Celestia to that... that... rrrrggghhh! Gandalf, now that I can see.

(OOC: I didn't want to jump the queue, and I was waiting for Apple Bumpkin's actions.) "Furthermore, your advice on how to run my business was not asked for," Rarity added sternly. Despite it all, she wondered if she wouldn't have to hire some assistance soon. It was becoming a lot of work as her name became more and more notable. Blueblood sniffed imperiously. He personally thought it was most excellent advice. he wanted to tell her off properly, but for the moment he needed her skills. However, he couldn't help but throw forth a small dig. "Yes, I can see you clearly don't need any more help here..." He indicated the queue around the door, and the single filly trying to manage it all. A dark maned stallion tried to get past her jumping the queue, and Blueblood glared at him, horn glowing. Even that farm-pony had better manners for his great aunt's sake. But it seemed Sweetie Belle did have things held by the horn. He came back to the conversation and considered Rarity's earlier words. "Hmmm... Are you sure you can't move it up to tomorrow? I have a heavy schedule for the day after. I am, after all, one of the most sought after ponies in Canterlot society." To be honest, he had nothing that was that important, but it wasn't in him to just let it go without a fuss. That way, if he finally gave her the extra day, he was doing her a favour.

Clawee came over to pick a bag of flour, and stopped. "Whoa! Never mind that! Look what I found!" She came back over in a three legged lope with a barrel on her shoulder held by her free fore-leg. She put down the barrel near to them and said, "Baking soda, I guess this was a delivery for a bakery, what with the flour and stuff lying around. But you know what this means?"

I thought exactly the same thing. Her power can't create love where none exists, like that potion in Hearts and Hooves day, it can only reinforce and clarify love that's already there. That makes it completely acceptable. I found the idea that Celestia could be overpowered completely acceptable. Shining Armour is clearly almost as powerful as Twilight. They even generate the same shield spell. The difference is, Shining Armour is focussed on defence, where as Twilight is a multi-tool. Combine that with the fact that Chrysalis was assuming the form and powers of an alicorn, and makes her even more powerful. Plus, Celestia accepted the fake Cadence, which means she'd been worked on, just like the others, and probably for some time. Therefore she probably wasn't at full power. My only problem is that Cadence is an alicorn. We need an explanation. Where did she come from? It also shows that the Royal family knew about Twilight Sparkle before she went for her test to enter Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. I have to wonder, what an alicorn princess was doing as a baby sitter. I'm certain that she was supposed to be a unicorn distant relation, like Prince Blueblood, and someone up top decided that Princess meant alicorn without thinking how it would mess with the setting.

I have several, and I'm not sure which one I want most. 1) More air-ships. Let's see them in use. We have seen other balloons but I'd like to see fleets of the things. 2) Prance. The place where Haute Corture and talking fancy and giffons with outrageous accents come from. 3) A history for Princess Cadence. The only problem I have with the end of second season is the fact that Cadence isn't mentioned before then. She's an alicorn. Luna may not be mentioned much, but at least she has history and occasional appearances.

(OOC: Since this thread seems to have gone moribund, I'm writing my character out and free for the others.) Cloudius woke up in a place smelling of antiseptic and boredom. A bed in a room that was in a hospital, if the bed next to him with the bandaged and splinted up guy in the bed next to him was any indication. He felt very weak but he could move his head around, and saw, written in felttip on the side of the bedside table facing him, 'RD was here!' and a cloud and lightning bolt cutie-mark. Getting up was beyond his capabilities, but he goit himself into a more comfortable position. The doctor walked in and pulled a clipboard from his saddlerbag. "Well, it seems you're finally awake. Welcome back!" "Uhhh... What happened, I mean I know what happened, but what else happened, and why am I so weak, my wings feel like dishrags and... oh my gosh, what about the cloud?" "Calm down, and we'll handle one thing at a time." the doctor said reassuringly. "You're suffering from almost complete magical exhaustion. According to your friends, you did something to that living cloud,and pushed every bit of magic you had into it, including the stuff that normally maintains your natural abilities. That's why you're here in Ponyville General rather than Cloudsale, you'd need the special ward as right now you can't fly or walk on clouds." "I'm... grounded?" Cloudius asked horrified. "Not permanently, you're magic's coming back in, but you'll need a week of complete rest. As for this cloud you're friends talked about, it survived, whatever that means, but it was a lot more peaceful." Cloudius let out a sigh of relief. "Then it worked..." "What worked?" In through the door came a white pegasus stallion with a blue mane and a solar shield cutie-mark, a pink pegasus mare with a blond mane done up in a pony-tail, and a sea-griffon who was almost the mare's size. The guy had spoken, but the griffon bounded forward, "Big brother!" She was slowed but not stopped by the mare grabbing her tail gently, which just meant she was being pulled along. The Doctor said, "Now don't disturb him, he'd very weak still. I can only let you have a few minutes." "Hi mom, dad, sis... I guess you want to know what went on." "That would be an excellent idea." The mare smiled. One explanation later, he finished with. "... so i had to do something, it would have destroyed Cloudsdale before it dissapated, but it was alive too, and I didn't want it to die. It wasn't evil, just hungry. The hungrier it got, the more furious it got, and the more it raged, using up more magic and getting even hungrier. So I broke the cycle, fed it some of my own magic, but with a twist that would break the cores where the magic was concentrating. That broke it and it started to collapse, but then I added a second twist, to restore them at a lower level. That's what took it out of me." He sighed. "From what I've heard it worked. It's still alive, but as a harmless Cumulos Mediocritis, and I limited it's intake so there's no way it can grow to it's old size. I know I took risks, and I was really scared, but like you always say dad, 'Custodes Solis et Lunae'. There are times when someone has to risk themselves to protect others, and this was one of those times." The big stallion had listened impassively, but finally spoke. "You shouldn't need to make those choices yet, and I'm not happy that you got yourself hurt. Did you think what your mother and I would feel like if you died?" Seeing the pegasus colt drooping he added. "However, I am proud that you did what you did, even if I am unhappy, and in your place I might well have done the same thing, if I'd had your knowledge of clouds." That perked Cloudius up, and Clawee gave a big smile. "My big brother is a hero!" His mother hugged gently him. but said sternly. "Now you're going to get your rest, and we'll talk about this some more later." But her words fell on sleeping ears, asCloudius had fallen back into a slumber in his mother's hooves.

(OOC: Am I the only one who ever made a baking soda and vinegar volcano as a kid? I thought the idea was common knowledge. Carbonate plus acid = carbon dioxide, whether it's limestone (Calcium carbonate) or baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). Very well, assume Mark's discoveries were the content of the crates marked fragile.) Clawee felt a fierce momentary agreement with with Pip, then felt a bit ill at the fact. Not the idea of killing itself, she ate fish, and occasionally hunted for herself, and a Quarray Eel, for all it's size, was no smarter than a fish. But while killing for food was one thing, she'd wanted to kill it for revenge, for taking her brother, and the realisation brought an acid taste to her gorge. If there was no other way, she'd take point, carry the spear into position and act as bait, she'd have to, as she was the only flyer. She'd hope she could splint her wing to support her for long enough to succeed, but if they could find another way, she'd take it. "Pip! Clawee! I think I've found what we need!" Clawee dashed over and looked in the box at the green dyed stone. She'd picked up odds and ends from her brother... the worry stabbed her for a moment... and so knew a bit about sculpture. Though he worked in cloud, he'd studied regular statuary for inspiration, and being a voracious reader, she'd looked through some of his books. She had wondered why so many of them were fillies with unshorn fetlocks... This had to have been crushed and dyed, then molded into shape. That meant it could be broken up again. but the one crate wouldn't render that much, to affect something the size of the Quarray eel they'd need a lot. She'd just have to hope it would be enough. But how to deliver it? As she wondered, her gaze rose up to the frame of the wrecked freighter, and alighted on the intact, if partialy deflated, secondary lift cells. "If we can crush it up, that may work. And if those cylinders have any lift-gas left in them, we can use one of those balloons to fly a bag with the stuff in in front of the cave. We could even tow it on a rope like a kite."

Wingnut looked along the length of the dock, and saw what it contained to be good. While the air-ship dock, like it's bretheren in the lower reaches of Cloudsdale, was made of carefully sculpted cumulus, the unicorn didn't experience a sudden sinking feeling due to the cloud hoof shoes she wore, one of her earlier inventions. At the time finding a cheaper and more effective way to vest the spell permanently in an object had seemed the height of her ambitions, but now she had far greater plans. The air-ship dock contained one of her later inventions, and the instrument of future ones. The 'Equestria Spanner' had started out as a medium haul cargo air-ship, 'The North Wind', on the Canterlot/Staliongrad run. Over sixty ponies could stand nose to tail along the length of her envelope, though the ones at the each end would be on a slope, and possibly require some sort of harness. She mentally waved away the designs that started to line up neatly in her mind. But it had been Wingnut who had taken the aging, second-hand vessel and converted it into a flying workshop, it's main cargo bay stuffed with the equipment necessary to fix almost any sort of malfunction in either air-ship or locomotive. She'd retained the pectoral wing-sails and underslung rudder for manouvring, but rebuild the main engines and wing-sail arrangement at the stern to be more efficient, faster, and above all, operable remotely from the control cabin at the front. No... she'd be going over all that soon enough. For now she just admired the new decoration on the envelope which shielded the line of spherical gas cells. While many air-ships had fanciful scenes or decorations on their envelopes, hers was coloured a jaunty (and highly visible) orange. The only decoration was her company logo, her cutie mark of a hex-nut with a pair of white pegasus wings, and underneath the legend, 'Wingnut's Air Repair Service'. It was emblazoned as a boss on the very nose of the envelope, and again on each flank. Her latest upgrades and modifications had just been completed, and she had decided that other air-ship operators and indeed the public should have a change to see them. While she had contracts with several air-ship companies to fly off and repair their vessels in situ, new customers were always helpful, and recognition for her inventions would help to bring in engineering business. Which led to the present circumstance, a gangway leading to a hatch on the forward cabin, and a banner reading. 'Open ship day! All ponies welcome!'

Right. I've done my best to slim it down. I couldn't remove 95% and still have a a meaningful character history, but I've done my best to remove the excess and any specific figures. I only included them to show I was thinking about the limitations of the setting. History to explain how she got here. Since she is an unusual character, I need detail to show how she came to be. One paragraph to show her present circumstances. Four paragraphs to show her personality. Another three for magic, which is critical to any unicorn, and something I want to get okayed. One paragraph to skills, and one paragraph to physical description. I'm an engineer, I love designing things. I wanted to do this right have people be able to see the Equestria Spanner in their heads. So I may have gotten a bit carried away. I specifically wanted to show that although she has designed a pair of mechanical wings, they are inferior to a natural pair, and wing-power is canon. In fact the main reason I went into detail is so that I don't get jumped on if I get this character passed, and then some-one decides they don't like one of my inventions.

(OOC: I thought we were going by turn order!) Blueblood examined the photographs carefully, shuffling through them with his telekinesis. The dresses were familiar, ones he had seen at the best functions, so it was clear that this mare, whatever her social shortcomings, really was a prolific and capable designer. The few pieces of stallionware did have a certain verve and style, and he suddenly felt a lot less uncertain about coming here. If she could be trusted to maintain this standard. "As for stallion-wear, I'll admit we mostly deal in mare's clothing, and that's where my main talents lie. However, I have upmost confidence in my ability to produce anything the customer may want," Rarity said. That sounded hopeful. She started to say something about producing the finest quality stallion-ware, but he got distracted by the minor drama going on with his erstwhile assistant. She had recovered nicely from her tumble, and greeted the first customer, a foal, only to be assaulted by the second, some dreadful mare with the same grating accent as that friend of Rarity's who'd fed him fattening carnival fare and then assaulted him with a giant apple cake. He was ready to intervene, but Sweetie Belle managed to disengage herself without assistance and without being as rude as her assailant. She even managed to say something nice about the mare's accent, going above and beyond the call of duty. Wait, she knew some-pony like this? Oh well, in such a backwater it was inevitable that she'd have to associate with such people. Fortunately, it didn't seem to have affected her. He had maintained his appearance of attention even while he'd been observing that, and realised that Rarity had stopped talking. "Yes, yes, I'm sure that will be fine." He replied. "I need to be the cynosure of all eyes, my attire must be striking without being over-done, flamboyant yet austere. It miust be something that they will talk about for the rest of the season. And definitely without cake." Part of his attention was still on Sweetie Belle, who was doing the best to manage the needs of both customers, though ti was clear the colt was also a friend of a friend. A friend of a friend who was arranging a formal party. Intriguing. Of course formal in this place probably meant 'wipe your hooves and comb your mane if you feel like it.' Still she might benefit from someone explaining to her how to act properly... "I think it best if you take my measurements, and then I shall leave you to consider a suitable design. I can return tomorrow and see what you have come up with." He looked off into the distance, posing. "Hopefully, my superb conformation will inspire your artistic talents. Oh, and feel free to add ten percent to the final cost as a tip for your sister's excellent service. She is willing, and has some talent, but if she wishes to learn how to behave around high society ponies, she will need some professional lessons." That dreadful farm-mare was chattering away ninteen to the dozen, and he indicated her with a tilt of his head. "I suppose _that_ is the sort of thing you have to deal with on a regular basis. You should really have an appintments secretary, otherwise you might end up with the most dreadful sort of pony just wandering in here without warning." (OOC: He really does walk into these things...)

Okay, I'm sorry, I shouldn't accuse without proof. To be honest, I didn't like the original voice on Derpy. If they'd kept the new voice but the original dialogue I'd have been happy. However, I am old enough to remember the public outcry about roleplaying being all about demons and therefore evil. There are people who will latch onto anything popular and vilify it, if there's any possible way they can twist it to their own cause. But you guys are right. It was a very well put together prank. It was just the heart stop moment I got when I first saw it was no fun. If people remember things like 'Beadles About' or 'Candid Camera', I suspect if someone pulled it on me, I'd go for that smug announcer, horse, foot and marines.

I pegged it as an April fools within a minute of reading it, but I didn't find it one bit funny. Every-pony knows that we've been unbelievably lucky with what we've already gotten away with. It would only take one legal type at Hasbro getting a case of acid reflux from eating one too many executive lunch, and the hammer would come down. Yes it would be unbelievably stupid, as by shutting down fan sites they'd be basically ripping away at least 40 to 50% of their potential merchandising base, but how many wonderful, creative ideas have been crushed into non-existence because some executive type with a huge car to compensate for the tiny dimensions of his... horn... deciding that they must show their authoritah by doing something, if the idiot bible belt mothers against everything don't decide that because ponies can cast magic they are evil and the work of the devil... Remember Derpy Hooves. It's rather gallows humour, like the one that shows the people outside the White Star Line offices asking for news of their loved ones, and amongst them a sad polar bear asking if there's any news of the ice-berg.

Alrighty then. It's finally beaten into shape. Unleash the Cerberuseseses of war!

I still have to do a personality piece, and detail some of the tools she'll be using on a regular basis.

Gah! Should have gone looking.

It's fine by me, in fact I hope you will. Once your character's approved, you don't need any-pony's permission to join an open RP thread, unless it specifically says PM to join. I hope you like school drama. As to where you start out, what you have to do is come up with a back-story first. Where did your character come from ('When a pony and a griffon love each other very much...') No, not in that way in how your parents came to be together. Who was the mother and who the father? Are they still together, in love, or was it just a short term thing? Where did they meet? Where did they live? If you can answer those questions it would give you a basis to write your own history. Oh! I just had a thought. hippogriffs are part pony, so do they also gain cutie-marks?

Blueblood watched her stride off, acting with dignity... Clearly he'd done a good deed for the day, teaching a young pony the proper way to serve some-pony and behave in polite society... uh oh... He saw the tape slip, but he couldn't catch it in time before she tripped on it. He winced as she tumbled over her own hooves, though she got at least a few points for her fast recovery. Clearly she needed more practice. However, she'd done her very best to serve him, and listened to his advice. He should have said something about securing anything that could trip you, sometimes a problem with formal-wear as well as measuring tapes. "Next customer, please!" Oh, delight, oh rapture. Time to face _her_. Well, she was supposed to be this exceptional 'fashionista'. He got up, leisurely finishing his cup of tea, and walked over, all the time checking to see she didn't have any cruller chakrams secreted about her person, ready to assault unsuspecting members of royalty. Let us see if the privations he had gone through in coming here were worth the effort (excepting the tea, that was actually rather a pleasant surprise). "Miss Rarity, I believe. Hoity Toity himself suggested that you would be able to provide for my exacting requirements. Hopefully without any assaults by baked goods or insane animals. Lord Pooflehoof will be holding a grand gala event to commemorate the launching of his new air-yacht. I am of course invited, and as any-pony familiar with the conventions of Canterlot Society would know, showing up in a suit I had already used at some other event would be the most dreadful faux-pas. "So, I must have a new set of formal-wear suitable, pardon the pun, for both the reception, and the launching itself. I spent hours with Hoity Toity, giving freely of my valuable time because this is _that_ important, second only to possibly the Grand Galloping Gala. I worked hard critiquing his efforts to create a bespoke design, until he finally admitted that he couldn't provide something sufficiently... sufficient. Hence, his suggestion that you might be able to provide what I need. He apparently has the greatest respect for your skills." He rolled his eyes. "Of course, I had not realised that we'd already met." He took a deep cleansing breath. "But that is behind us. This matter is of vital importance to me. I will pay whatever is needed, but I expect to get value for my money. The question is, are you as talented and capable as Hoity Toity and your little sister say you are? And more importantly, can you apply that talent to stallion-wear?"

Quotes "You can't keep a good unicorn down!" "Okay, so that last invention didn't work quite as expected, but I think I know what went wrong!" "Uh oh!" "Up up and away!" [sharp intake of breath] "Hmmm... You need more than just a patch job to get that thing flying again." "This should work with no problems!" "You see this is why I always carry a parachute." "Any sufficiently analysed magic is indistinguishable from science!" "My will is strong, my cause is just, and my spanner is very, very large!" Roleplay Type: World of Equestria RP Name: Wingnut (aka Flight of Fancy) Sex: Female Age: Mare Species: Unicorn Eye Colour: Red/Purple Coat Colour: Pibald Blue and Light Grey Mane/Tail/Markings: Hair and mane are cut short and inexpertly, and follow the same two colour pattern as the body with the mane a slightly darker blue. Physique: Fairly average proportions but slightly chubby (too many donuts). Cutie Mark: Grey hex nut with a pair of white wings. Origin/Residence: Her workshop dirigible. Occupation: Airship and chariot/cart repair specialist and builder and fixer up of flying devices of all sorts. Inventor of flying devices when she can get the money together to fund her latest brainstorm. Motivations: She wishes she had born a pegasi, like her parents. Since she wasn't she invents cool devices to make up for her lack of wings. She is also fascinated with the application of magic to technology. Likes: Flying. Inventing stuff. Inventing stuff while flying... you get the idea. Oh, and donuts. And her favourite spanner. Dislikes: The idea that any problem is not soluble by some application of a combination magic and technology, or failing that hitting it with a big spanner. When one of her inventions performs less than spectacularly. Character Summary: Wingnut was born under the name Flight of Fancy. Flight of Eagles and Misty Winter were a pair of pegasi who both worked in the great weather factories of Cloudsdale, Flight full time, Misty doing seasonal work in snowflake manufacture. Unfortunately, some where in the genetic dice-roll, someone rolled a double one. Their foal was a girl, and she had a sky coloured coat, but she was a unicorn. Fortunately Clousdale General Hospital could care for her. Just as some earth pony couples produced pegasi or unicorns, pegasi couples occasionally produced earth ponies or unicorns. Her parents might have not gotten what they hoped for, but they did their best to care for their new child. But it wasn’t easy. They were not rich, especially as Misty Winter had to give up her part time job to care for Flight of Fancy full time and items like an enchanted romper suit that would let Fancy walk around on clouds without falling through them were very expensive. Fortunately her mother had a cousin, Heat Haze, who worked for a pegsaus cargo company in Ponyville, who offered to take care of the young foal. So she grew up in her uncle’s household, and went through her school years in Ponyville, a contemporary of Cheerilee and Boxxy Brown. She grew up around flying carts and pegasus powered vehicles, and helped out in the workshop, fetching and carrying for the mechanics. It soon became clear she needed corrective glasses for reading and close up work. She only got to see her real parents and the younger pegasus sister they had after her, Dawn Dew, when they could manage time away to visit, or in later years, when she could cadge a flight to Cloudsdale and back, and more importantly, a Cloud Hoof spell to let her walk around once there. Her visits were treats, and she always used some of her allowance to bring cakes from Ponyville for her family. She got teased, or rather bullied by a couple of the other students, for her glasses, her unusual colour pattern, being an outsider and the fact that she was a unicorn born to a pegasus family. She quickly learned how to give as good as she got, and better, being quite smart, but the teasing, and her background in general did have one effect. She really wished he had been born a pegasus or rather felt that she should have been born a pegasus, and something went wrong. Being both smart and practical rather than whining about it, she set herself to overcoming the minor fact that she didn't have wings. One other thing stuck, the appelation 'Wingnut', which rather than treating it as the slur it was meant to be, she adopted as a nick-name. She started building gliders and balloons, toy ones at first, when she was still in school. She was average in most classes, but she started reading beyond her level in applied sciences, maths and magical theory. Her raw power level wasn't enough to get her a scholarship to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and her family didn't have enough money to pay her fees, but she didn't really mind. She had a vocation, and got her training and tutoring in the cargo company workshop, and by doing it for herself. With her burgeoning interest in engineering, and her uncle's contacts she got a chance to help out at the rail depot. This meant she even managed to get some experience with the magical steam engines, fixing and helping to maintain them. She also read up on the burgeoning electrical technology, but had little chance to experiment with it. When her magic came in, it wasn't surprising that the first spell she gained beyond basic light and telekinesis was the Cloud Hoof spell. It wasn't as if she hadn't studied the theory till she wore the print of the pages of the grimoire. Her other spells were also focussed on either flight, levitating things or making things, and she could even manifest small objects. She build her first full sized glider and flew it in her last year of school, and that gained her her cutie mark. She was still considered a bit odd, but avoided the know-it-all label because she wasn't learining to show it off, but for her own purposes, and she was perfectly willing to help out other foals when asked. Her obsession was something of a running joke, but since she was once again always willing to let other foals play with the things she made, not a nasty one. Once again, her family didn't have the money to put her through any university, so she went to work for the cargo company full time, and studied on her own. Her designs and ideas became more complex, and some were even worthwhile enough to patent, which gave her a bit of extra money to spend on inventing. She also became the 'go-to girl' for any problem which flumoxed the other techies. After a couple of years, she managed to wangle an interview for a job at one of the airship manufacturing corporations in Las Pegasus. She hoped to get into one of the R & D teams, working on the cutting edge of air vessel design. Her lack of formal further education let her down, though she impressed enough people that she did manage to get into their enginerering division. She was sorry to leave Ponyville and her friends, but this was a chance to do bigger, better things. She took to the work like a duck to orange sauce. She got to play with bigger, shinier toys, and work on more complex and interesting problems, actually building and occasionally repairing the beasts. Once again she ended up being the one who they sent to fix problems no-pony else could. Of course, that didn't stop her trying to move over to R & D, and getting knocked back each time. She also made contacts among Las Pegasus' Cloud surfing community, and once again started messing around with ideas and designs in her home workshop. Some of the other ponies at work were cloud surfers, and got to test out her boards, which proved to be very good. Building pro Cloudsurfing boards, and bringing the cost of making one for a non-pegasus down to something reasonable, ultimately made her quite a bit of money. She could have quit her job and gone into it full time, except she liked working on airships. Plus she had access to gear that could let her test out some of her wilder designs (on her own time). However, what she didn't like was working as part of a big company, especially one that kept ignoring her wishes to move into original design. Ultimately she found a way around it. Airships and trains were complex pieces of machinery, and occasionally broke down beyond the capability of the on-board engineers to fix in situ, usually in the most inconvenient places. The shipping lines who owned them then had to divert another vehicle to tow them to a ship yard in Las Pegasus, Canterlot or Manehatten where they had the tools to repair them. Add to that the cost of transhipping cargio and annoyed passengers, and you had a big expensive mess. It would be so much easier and faster if some-pony could take the repair yard to the vehicle, but no single shipping line could afford to have a dedicated repair vessel. No shipping line, but all of them together... Through talking to the various air-crews who brought in air-ships for repair, and collected new ones, she knew some ponies, who knew ofther ponies, who could ask very important ponies if they would be willing to pay a smaller fee, effectively insurance, to hire an independent contractor to do the job. There were enoiough yeses that she could take her idea to a bank, and with her savings and a mortgage buy up a a light cargo airship second hand and refit it as a travelling workshop. It helped that the bank president's son was a keen cloud surfer and used one of her boards. It was left with practically no cargo capacity, but it had the machine tools and supplies to fix almost any problem, and a set of souped up engines that could get her across the Heartlands in a few hours. If a ship went down, or a train got stuck, they could send a pegasus, and she would come and fix it. She had living quarters on board, and the rest of her time was free, and she had all the equipment she could ask for to pursue her own ideas. The nearest thing she had to a permanent adress was the air-ship dock at Cloudsdale which was registered as her ship's home port. Which brings us to the present day. Between her repair contracts, her patent royalties and doing various custom engineering jobs which get sent her way, she makes enough to live on, mantain her airship, the 'Equestria Spanner' and to buy materials for her own inventions. While she can often be found at the dock in Cloudsdale, she could appear anywhere in Equestria, either on her way to or from a job, or just because. While she has few close friends, and lives alone in fairly spartan accomodations (a cabin bunk on board ship) she's close to her family, both in Cloudsdale and Ponyville, and her wandering history has left her with hundreds of close acquaintances. Personality-wise, she's an enthusiast. Part of her still wishes she'd been born a pegasus, but she's mostly at peace with her race, and more. She's quite aware that she wouldn't be able to build stuff half as cool without magic. She is firmly of the opinion that there is no problem that can't be solved by a suitable application of technology, or failing that whanging it with a big spanner until it works. She's quite willing to share that opinion with every-pony as well, though she doesn't push into every conversation. As in school, she's doing the things she does because she wants to, and to help ponies, not to show off. She's friendly and tries to see the best in any-pony she meets, but she doesn't need company the way some ponies do. She does appreciate it when she has it though. One thing that helps to prevent her monomania being annoying is that she's also learned to listen, and is quite good at getting other ponies to talk to her. She enjoys solving problems, technical or otherwise, and will often jump in to help some-pony who needs it. Of course she's not without... foibles. She will occasionally let her enthusiasm get the better of her, and try to solve a problem where it would be better to let the ponies involved sort it out for themselves. She's literal minded to a fault, and like a lot of smart ponies, enjoys wordplay and logic-chopping. And while her repairs and construction of existing technology are robust and meticulous, some of her own ideas scrape the edge of the envelope so hard, they make the stamp squeak in pain, and this sometimes means some of her more extreme inventions may fail fairly spectacularly. But in such cases she generally picks up the pieces and starts over. Also, although she doesn't brag about it, she's quietly proud of what she's achieved, and is likely to get annoyed at someone dismissive of her talents or ambitions, or the fact that her skills come from practical work and self tutoring, rather than the right university. If that someone is a university edcucated themselves, they are likely to get a face full of angry unicorn. Her magic is slightly above average in power due to constant use, but is focussed into specific fields. Her telekineis is unusually strong, a result of magical weight training when she was still gaining her magic. Her idea was to fly by levitating herself, and while she eventually got her lift capacity up above her own weight, she found trying to lift herself for more than a few moments made her exhausted, and trying to move herself about at more than a slow walk made her nauseous. She later found that that she wasn't the first to try it, and the reasons were inherent. However the experience wasn't without value, she can lift fairly large components, and when focussed on a small area, she can shape sections of sheet metal. Spells working with clouds, lightning or air come easily to her, either from her pegasus background or her relentless focus on that area of spell-craft. The Cloud Hoof spell is one such example, but she can raise wind, cast weight reduction charms and even condense small amounts of water. She's tried to learn the Flutterwings spell, but so far with no success. One other spell effect she makes frequent use of is generating a controllable spark of lightning. While she can't generate a full fledged thunderbolt, she can sustain a spark for some time. One of her personal inventions is a pair of welding goggles, but with prisms built in so her line of sight was directed upwards, along the length of her horn. This basically means she can use her horn to solder, braze and even spark weld metals. However, on her first attempt to use it (after her mane grew back) she made the goggles a full face guard. Her only other notable magic talent is manifestation. While she can't do living organisms, she can manifest small inamnimate objects, which can last for a couple of hours. An extremely useful talent for when she needs some specialist tool, or for rapid prototyping of a design by manifesting a component or scale model. It is however a talent she uses sparingly, as it is tiring. While she's learned to invest objects with magic spells, that is more of a set of techiques rather than a spell. Her other skills are knowledge and practical skills in steam and mechanical engineering, a fair grasp of magical theory, varying to good in the area of item creation. She also understands business, though it's more of a necessity than a passion. And obviously she's studied meteorology and holds an air-ship masters licence. Her outfit is practical. She wears a pair of glasses, to correct her vision, though she's not exactly blind without them. Her short, multi-pocketed jacket is fille with all sorts of tools and devices she might need, including a notebook and pen. She wears a set of cloud shoes she crafted which run off her own magic rather than stored power, giving them unlimited duration. She also wears a parachute almost all the time, a compact design of her own. While she could slow herself with telekinesis, judging it while falling would be difficult.