Earth Pony Flying Brick [Final]

[Blueblood]

Roleplay Type: World of Equestria

Name: Flying Brick

Sex: Female

Age: Young-ish Mare

Species: Earth Pony

Eye Color: The color of a sun-paled paving brick (#ff3333)

Coat Color: A darker brick, one stained with soot (#660000)

Mane/Tail/Markings Color & Style: Her mane and tail are colored like a third kind of brick, this one fresh from the kiln (#990000). Her mane is cut short enough not to get caught up on anything while she runs through the city, and otherwise left unstyled. Her tail is also somewhat shorter than average, for the same reason.

Physique: Her overall skeletal structure would tend to the short and lithe, like a gymnast, but she's put a little more muscle on than you'd usually see on one.

Cutie Mark: A winged brick

Origin/Residence: Kuznitza District, Stalliongrad

Occupation: She would call herself a "street acrobat," but she's often had to take other jobs to support herself and her family.

Motivation: To find some way of doing what she loves and making a living out of it, while staying out of the main Stalliongrad sporting system.

Likes: Her home city, finding creative ways of incorporating the things around her into routines, showing her moves, griffons, bubble gum

Dislikes: The country, backing down from a challenge, going hungry, rigorous and overbearing authority, reading, seeing anypony hurt, bananas

Character Summary: It is common wisdom that Earth Ponies are especially connected with the land, and many have taken this to mean that they're mostly country folk, and can never really get used to living in a city. That, however, would be a hasty generalization. It's true that most Earth Ponies had their roots in farming, and thus that connection to their land made them slightly uncomfortable with the idea of living on top of brick and stone instead of proper dirt.

However, a few did, and after a few generations, the observer may note an inversion of the common wisdom. City-bred earth ponies are indeed connected to their environment, and feel as connected to their streets and parks as country ponies to their lanes and fields.

Such a pony is Flying Brick, a fact reflected in her very coloration. To her, the cobbles, bricks, and lampposts are as natural as the grass, rocks, and trees. She loves her own Stalliongrad, but can feel comfortable in any urban environment in a way she can't in a smaller, more rural town, let alone unsettled country.

She grew up in the lower-class portion of the city, however, so you could hardly call her refined. She would seem to have no sense of personal space, coming partly from somewhat close living conditions, partly from a genuine liking of being around someone, and partly because it was considered rude in her neighborhood to seem stand-offish. She can get a little exaggerated with gestures of affection, slapping friends on the back, or suddenly pulling them into a hug whenever they meet, again partly from individual caprice and partly because most ponies on her street tended to act the same way.

While she grew up in Kuznitza district, she'd hardly confined there. She's run all across the city, doing her routines to entertain ponies wherever they are thick in walking traffic. Still, she's generally not found in the highlands, where the more upper-class residents are, and tends not to visit the business district until the afternoon shift change. Her enthusiasm in putting on a show and demonstrating her athleticism through freerunning up a building, doing flips off the fire escape, and leaping from lamppost to lamppost can bring cheers from her watchers, and even bits tossed at her (alas, not quite enough for a living).

Bio- Early Life: Flying Brick was born into a good and loving family, though it wouldn't be strictly accurate to call it a happy one. When your father is a Pegasus who couldn't fly through a wing injury, and your mother a gymnast whose career was cut short through a leg injury, there's a kind of sorrow that doesn't ever really go away from the home.

Still, they both did try to make the best of it, and her father had attained some small success in building the narrow, tall buildings often seen in the city district. He was quite charmed with the brick-like coloration of his daughter, and her habit of jumping off the furniture was pardoned as "living up to my side of the family." Her mother wasn't so patient, but still liked that her daughter had inherited something of her skills.

She grew up happy enough as a rather athletic filly, who was very much more street-smart than book-smart. Like most foals of the type, she had the usual impatience with sitting in a desk at school, and couldn't wait to get out, to show off her new moves to all her friends.

This caught the eye of her teachers, who went to her parents one day and asked if they'd thought about enrolling their daughter in a different curricula. Stalliongrad had a long tradition of acrobatics and gymnastics, and would often recruit promising talent early. Her mother, however, had put her hoof down and refused. She'd gone through that training herself, and had done all the work asked of her, even gotten her cutie mark in it. After all that, on the cusp of breaking out in her career, her coach had pushed her through one long night of practice, and she ended up injuring her leg so badly she still walked with a slight limp. She wasn't about to let her daughter go through the same thing.

Flying Brick, for her part, wasn't too upset at the news, not after hearing her mother's horror stories, at least. Sure, she'd have liked not to have to deal with her teachers, but not being able to run down the street and take a flying leap over a back alley wall again? No, thank you.

Cutie Mark Story: Professional gymnast being out of the question for a career path, Flying Brick's father would often bring her with him to his work sites when school was out, having her do small jobs, usually taking messages or tools to the other pegasi or griffons that specialized in this kind of architecture.

One day, when his crew were working in one of the more middle-class districts, adding a third floor to the top of a shop, a few of the passers-by stopped to stare at the rather unusual sight of one Earth Pony filly working alongside grown flyers on a higher-altitude construction site. Flying Brick's method of getting between her father directing operations on the ground and the workers in the air, shimmying up and down a lamppost, drew some applause, which encouraged her to put a little more flash in her path. By the late afternoon, she was doing flips on and off the roof, sliding down the railings of the fire escape, and generally putting on a show for the crowd, whose applause grew with every new demonstration of athleticism and showmareship.

It wasn't until the workday was done that the filly realized she'd gotten her cutie mark, symbolic of both her name and her high-flying skills.

Up to Present-day: There was still no chance of Flying Brick ever going through the official channels for joining a Stalliongrad acrobatics team. Not just from her mother's veto, either; by this time, she herself has a definite preference for the street venue, and a prejudice against the official rigor put into the coaching. As she grew up, she would run all across the city, sometimes on the street, sometimes on the rooftops, about as aerial as a pony can get without wings. She hunted for good venues, and experimented with incorporating the objects of her environment, like trashcans and taxicabs, into her routine. She grew to love performing on the streets of her city, and even to love the streets and the city itself.

This, however, did not bring her close to making a living. Ponies appreciate street performances, but its not easy to live from bits given by strangers, especially from a mobile performance. Buskers, at least, can stay still, and don't get as tired. She's still looking for a way to not have to take odd jobs to support herself, and her family, but she's beginning to wonder if that's even possible in this city...

Major Flaws: Flying Brick has two major weaknesses. First, she doesn’t accept discipline or orders of any kind well, even if they’re in her best interest. On the other hand, she can readily be dared into doing anything, even if it’s a dumb idea, especially if you present it as a challenge to her athleticism or showmareship.

[Rosewind]

This character is solid. I feel like I could see her in an episode of FiM. Great work!

[Blueblood]

Thanks!