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Moon Shine [Ready]

starswirlthebearded

By starswirlthebearded
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starswirlthebearded Wonderbolt

starswirlthebearded

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Roleplay Type: Mane RP

Name: Moon Shine

Sex: Male

Age: Older Stallion

Species: Pegasus

Eye colour: Gold

Coat: Light midnight blue, though often seen with a tuxedo or other formal attire on.

Mane/Tail: Silver Mane and tail. The mane is slicked back and always well kept. The tail is well kept and on the shorter side.

Physique: Slender at a slightly taller height than most other pegasii

Residence: Las Pegasus

Occupation: Owner and operator of the bar and casino "The Alicorn Alcazar"

Cutie Mark: Poker Chips

Moon Shine wasn't like all the other kids in Cloudsdale, he didn't like flying. Instead he learned how to play cards from his father, to his mother's dismay. This really didn't bother him though as he learned the ins and outs of every game he could play or learn about. This included tricks that many would consider foul play, as well as ways to detect it. He mostly honed this skill through watching his father play cards every week with his friends. He would play cards with his friends in his spare time, making himself only better.

When he was an older colt, still without his cutie mark, he basically forced his way into a game with his father's friends. Upon entering, they all laughed as they entertained the colt and allowed him to play with the "big ponies". After strategically losing the first few hands, he started to land a few good hands. When he started winning the adults decided that enough was enough, and they started to use slight of hoof to tip the game in their favour. They couldn't just be humiliated by a colt!

Moon Shine saw through this sleight of hoof, having seen it dozens of times before. He didn't immediately fight fire with fire, he waited until he was down in chips to turn the tables. He used what he knew to do exactly what the adults were doing to him, giving himself better hands. When he pulled out the highest hand and won, they accepted defeat and a pair of poker chips appeared on his flank.

History: Moon Shine was born to a relatively common pegasus family. The mother worked in the weather factory on snowflakes, and the father was on the weather team. He was chiefly on the weather team for Las Pegasus, often staying over there as part of his duties. His father would often gamble, and he was quite good, or so it seemed. Moon Shine was rather disinterested in flying about Cloudsdale though. He didn't know what he wanted to do. He would try playing with his friends, doing obstacle courses and even trying summer flight camp. None of this made him happy as a colt though, until one day, he found a deck of cards that his father had brought back from Las Pegasus.

He ran up to his father and asked him what they were and what they were used for. The father decided to teach him. His mother did protest, worrying that he'd be a gambler like his father, running with the "wrong" sort of crowd. And thus his unwitting training began. His father taught him every game and all the rules that he possibly could. They would play constantly whenever his father was at home. And when his father wasn't he would still practice. Occasionally his father would invite other ponies from the various weather teams to play games, as well as family members, like his uncle BlackJack. His uncle's presence always astounded him, since he was an earth pony and he wasn't sure how he could walk on the clouds. Moon Shine would watch on and learn all the tricks that his father and his friends used. Many of them sleight of hoof tricks, or tricks to see what other players had. He practiced these too.

Eventually his friends came around his Cloudsdale home asking why he didn't come out. They said they were having fun without him. Moon Shine laughed and said he felt the same way, that he found a game that only "big ponies" played. He had them enthralled from the minute he started talking. He taught them the basic games first, and then they made their own little card playing club. At first though Moon Shine played on the up and up. Never cheating, playing a straight game with his friends. He still usually won due to his greater experience. As one of his friends started to become good enough to rival him, he realized that losing wasn't as fun as winning, so he started to use those little tricks his father and his friends often used on each other. His friends never suspected a thing, and he always won, except when he didn't want to of course. He learned pretty quickly from watching the adults that using tricks too much will make others angry. Because his friends still won every once and a while they remained happy. Moon Shine even made it to the point where he could fix games entirely if he was dealing without anyone being the wiser, and he was able to allow all his friends to win about equal amounts. But still growing older into colthood he still didn't have his cutie mark.

He finally challenged the adults and beat them, albeit barely. His father scolded him after the game, apparently noticing that he had cheated to win. Moon said that he was only doing what everyone else was doing. His father scoffed it off, with a slight smile. His uncle, on the other hoof, was impressed with him. After walking away Moon Shine noticed he had two poker chips on his flank. He told his parents what he planned to do, which is to say go to Las Pegasus to either play professionally or to deal. He started his career by playing professionally and doing quite well, both legitimately and playing, as he started calling it, "creatively smart." Several years passed and he became known as one of the best gamblers in Las Pegasus. This is until one day he was caught by the owner of one casino. He didn't out him though, but rather asked him to retire and become a dealer at his casino, the Pegasus Palace.

Many years passed and his goal was to always ensure the house won. Which he did very well. Distraught as he was of his fallen career of fame and fortune, he began frequenting the bar of the Pegasus Palace quite often. The owner saw this to be a growing problem and regularly warned him to lay off the drink. Moon Shine never listened. Eventually the owner asked him to resign. Moon Shine, furious that he could let his best dealer go exclaimed "Well... Forget you! I'm going to make my own casino! With better drinks and showfillies! In fact forget the drinks!" And stormed off.

Good to his word, Moon Shine made a new casino/bar/hotel/entertainment club, called the Alicorn Alcazar. And as he had said they had plenty of entertainment and drinks. The games were good and it didn't take long for the word to spread of a new casino and it slowly grew. Moon Shine trained all of his dealers how he learned to fix games and put the odds steeply in the house's favour. Naturally he didn't have them use their tricks all the time, only when needed like a player was doing too good. They also used their knowledge to catch cheaters quite effectively, which made it popular with many people, despite lack of knowledge of the dealer's misdeeds on the whole. There are some honest ones at least, but again, his father taught him those who cheat all the time get caught.

Character Summary: Moon Shine has a silver tongue. Ever since he was a colt, he was able to get others to listen to what he said and lead them. He is as cunning as he is intelligent, but naturally, he is not without fault and does get caught, often relying on his silver tongue to get him out of situations. He will give those who notice misdeeds in his casino special privilege for keeping quiet.

He isn't all devious and cunning though. Moon Shine does believe in fair play, to a point (which is lack of profit). However, he uses everything in his power to shift the odds to his favour. Over the years, he has developed many techniques to ensure that he doesn't have to cheat, he just can if he needs to. He is running an honest business after all. He'll play catchy live music to set the mood, the showfillies always help (and yes, there are nights where he has showcolts for the fillies as well), and of course complementary drinks, to ensure that the longer they play, the more the house has the chance to win. Sometimes he still descends to the casino floor to deal a hand or two, especially with high profile guests, whom he never cheats. (after all, it is risky to cheat those whom are not easy to bribe)

He never acts anything other than a gentleman out in public though. His public figure is something he holds in the highest regard. In fact, those that have known him the longest are often confused by his demeanor as he is nothing as they remember of the cunning snide colt that would cheat them out of winning. The only thing recognizable is that silver tongue that can seem to convince a pig he is a prince.

His casino is the epitome of what he considers fun. If he goes out with others it is usually to his competition, to further enjoy the various entertainments of Las Pegasus, that he loves so much. Whether it be local reviews, showfillies, good music from great performers, gambling, or a good drink, he is in his element in Las Pegasus. His casino especially is everything he thinks a casino/hotel/entertainment spot should be. He firmly believes others enjoy it because he himself enjoys it. The fact that he can profit from what he loves, despite the stress it often brings, is something he can never give up. From that first time he heard a chip fall into a pot he was in love with the life of casinos.

He is at his core a businessman. He may not always be an honest one, but he is a successful one. And for what it is worth, through his long years he became more honest, if just a bit. Perhaps his conscience is getting to him.

(Note: References to BlackJack (Reno Golucky's father) and relation to the Golucky family approved by QuickLime)

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Bellosh Alicorn

Bellosh

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Since I've been entrusted with this application: I must say, I find Moon Shine to be a very intriguing character. In my humble opinion, this is a very excellent example of how to apply for a "bad apple" OC without going overboard and breaking the feel of World of Equestria. I'll send this app along now to the folks upstairs. :)

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Rosewind Alicorn

Rosewind

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This looks good. Remember if you're not sure if something is constructive or in relation to the character application, it's probably best not to say anything at all. This is not to say that friendly banter is unwelcome, just make sure that who you are kidding around with understands the humor -- and it's not veiled behind something that is not your business under the ruse of a joke.

As for this character:

AppApproved.png

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