Pegasus Banzai [Ready]

[Slazer]

Name: Banzai

Gender: Male

Age: Stallion

Species: Pegasus

Character Colour: Banzai's coat is a dark cyan blue that becomes slightly lighter towards his hooves, typically kept clean but little else. His face is marred with freckles, minor burn scars, and small cuts, giving him an weathered, intimidating appearance. His fetlocks are closely shorn and his wings are immaculately preened, as important to him as they are.

Eye Colour: Banzai's eyes are a rich ruby red, contrasting strongly enough with his muted blue body and mane colors that his eyes are oftentimes the first thing many ponies who meet him notice and/or comment upon.

Mane/Tail/Other: Banzai's mane and tail are a darker shade of cyan than his coat, with his mane cut short and kept restrained beneath a bandanna at all times to reduce wind drag. His tail is kept in a longer, tight and curved style. Insofar as accessories, he frequently wears a tight crimson neckband as well as weighted steel horseshoes.

Physique: With a lifetime of different physical pursuits behind him, Banzai's physique is very impressive: he maintains a thin, athletic body with a strong musculature that is easily noticeable while not impeding his movements and range of motion. His flight muscles are the strongest of them all, second only to his legs; this, coupled with a larger wingspan compared to most Pegasi and his stamina, easily allows him to kick off the ground quickly and keep himself aloft for hours on end. On the other hoof, his wingspan means his aerial speed and endurance is impressive, but his acceleration and mobility is sub-par. He simply cannot move his wings quickly enough in midair to achieve the necessary level of control.

Residence: None; wanders across Equestria, taking refuge at inns, motels, or other public establishments.

Occupation: Freelance mercenary

Cutie Mark: A pair of triangles with the corners overlapping, one red and one white, enclosing a golden lightning bolt.

Unique Traits: Banzai is a strong combatant, owing both to his special talent and to his training in the REA. His specialty is hoof-to-hoof combat: in close quarters, Banzai makes use of his strong physique and ground agility to outmaneuver his opponents while bombarding them with powerful blows from his weighted horseshoes. When this proves insufficient, he draws on his knowledge of Pegasi weather magic to manipulate water vapor into razor-sharp 'blades' around his wings- a technique he saw in action from the Wonderbolts and later learned in the REA- and uses these natural weapons coupled with footwork to force an opponent on the defensive with unbalancing attacks and quick darts to and fro.

As a former member of the Trottingham Weather Team, Banzai has a decent understanding of the intricacies of Pegasi magic and the effects it can have on the weather. In appropriate environments, he can manipulate the weather to a localized extent to give himself an advantage in a forthcoming conflict or just to open up some sky for him to use. This same knowledge of water vapor in it's many forms is utilized in battle, especially against opponents who can also fly, in order to turn a fight on it's head with weaponized thunder-clouds; on his own, Banzai's ability to manipulate lightning can only be used to stun an opponent for a few seconds, at best. That said, however, few are aware of this fact, and a storm-cloud hurtling towards anypony is frightening enough on it's own.

History: Banzai was born in the depths of the Kuznitza District of Stalliongrad, the foal of born factory workers- to the point where both of his parents held cutie marks in labor and manufacturing. From the very beginning Banzai's parents believed he would follow in their footsteps, and sought to make it easier on him in the future by forcing him to toughen up in the present. Thus, Banzai was made to perform hard labor from the moment he could handle it, and pushed constantly to make himself bigger, stronger, more resistant to injury, and more tolerant to pain.

He was made to haul heavy loads of his parents' products across the District under the employ of the same manager, oftentimes by flight as well as hoof. He broke bones from fallen metal and dangerous aerial maneuvering through the streets, burned himself countless times over the years from the searing heat of the forge, and only ever received a pittance for his servitude. Through this, Banzai felt as though his life was being dictated solely by others for their sake, not his own. Freedom in his life was a hard-won privilege, often taken away when he inevitably collapsed of exhaustion or injured himself. Worst of all, he was never allowed to leave the smog-laden depths of the Kuznitza District.

Never, that is, until he took it upon himself. As the years went by, Banzai found himself unable to stand the grind of his life and the sheer helplessness he felt. Given only a basic education and still a blank-flank despite being in his early teens, he knew he was not doing what he was born to do. In a moment of bitter anger and desperation, Banzai took every bit he had to his name along with his meager belongings and fled Stalliongrad by train for the city of Trottingham to the south.

In an unfamiliar city with little knowledge of how to survive on his own, Banzai found his bits dwindling almost as fast as his hopes. He took what work he could find, regretting his decision to leave home without a word to anypony and looking on vacationing families with silent jealousy at the happy, normal lives they led. They knew their purpose, they knew what they were meant to do in life, but it seemed he never would.

That changed when he took a little time to see a Wonderbolts airshow that was in town some three months after his arrival in Trottingham. Like many Pegasi, Banzai knew about the Wonderbolts, but only ever from second-hoof accounts or what he could read in the papers- never once had he seen them in person. He went into the show not knowing what to expect or feel from it, and was immediately blown away. Their speed and agility in the sky, their close-knit teamwork, their daring tricks and uniformity without pressure: freedom incarnate in the eyes of the long-suffering stallion. On that day, Banzai felt he knew his purpose in life: he would become a Wonderbolt and join his new idols in the sky.

The revitalized stallion started out small by taking a job on the Trottingham weather team. There, he spent months learning the ins and outs of teamwork and weather control. He honed his flight skills through his work alongside his own set of exercises and tricks, feeling more free in the sky than he ever had beneath a smog cloud.

Despite his new-found goal, however, Banzai had issues getting along with some of his co-workers, many of whom were intimidated or annoyed by the boisterous stallion with a blank flank and raunchy humor. He tried his best to set aside his feelings, but they never did the same: one day during break, a cocky teenage pegasus bucked his drink from his hooves while sharing a few “choice” words. Banzai only just restrained himself from planting a hoof firmly in the colt's face, but nonetheless quit the weather team a couple of days later- feeling no desire to remain where he was not wanted- for his next objective: the REA.

Banzai found enlisting into the REA to be the easiest thing he had ever done: he was more than qualified physically, and his willingness to learn intrigued his superiors. Like many, they were skeptical of a colt nearing the age of adulthood who still lacked a cutie mark, but such doubts were extinguished when Banzai proved to be a very capable soldier, outperforming many of his comrades. Even in combat exercises, an area where most Equestrians didn't do well, Banzai proved to be exceptional, picking up techniques and skills quickly and applying them easily in mock battles. He even found he could tolerate being given orders, coming from ponies he admired.

For a time, Banzai wondered if he needed to continue on to the Wonderbolts: here in the REA, he felt as though he had found a place to belong, a place he could remain- of his own volition- for years to come. Why should he leave this behind to pursue a lofty dream? His question was seemingly answered for him when, months after Basic, Banzai looked upon his unmarked flank and was reminded of a painful fact: he still had not found his special talent. Being a soldier was a wonderful life as far as Banzai was concerned, but it was clearly not what he was meant for. Thus, he began turning in applications to the Wonderbolts, making sure to mark down everything he had accomplished in the last few years.

After an honorable discharged, Banzai immediately departed for the Academy and, upon arrival, was set to work post-haste. Obstacle courses, teamed flying, laps, the Wonderbolts put him through everything he could have imagined and then some. The former laborer found even his exceptional stamina tested by the difficulty of their tests on a regular basis, but he pushed through with all of his perseverance and skill. Banzai had never had so much fun working in his life, flying high above the clouds in the pursuit of a dream that felt so close to reality, he could almost taste it.

Not everything was so clear-cut and wonderful, however. Much as on the weather team, Banzai met several ponies among the Academy trainees that didn't take to him well; Banzai found himself alienated and restraining his temper on several occasions. Certainly he made friends- but more often than not, they were pressured by other trainees to abandon the “Freak from the North”, and some of them did just that, to Banzai's dismay. Though growing more bitter at his fellow trainees by the day, Banzai tried to write off their attitudes as simply the environment they were in.

Nopony would be at the Academy without an immensely competitive spirit, and Banzai was starting to catch the eyes of a few of the Wonderbolts with his performance thus far. Thus, he concluded, the other trainees had to be jealous of his abilities. Furthermore, he decided that, for the sake of his dream, he would give them even more to be jealous of. As the day of final examinations approached, Banzai cut himself off from others and pushed himself to the brink of exhaustion to be faster and stronger than any other candidate even as the stress began to mount: after months in the presence of his idols and more than a few compliments, he had yet to receive his cutie mark. What if he had been wrong? What if his destiny wasn't here, but elsewhere? Doubts began to cloud his clarity of thought as Banzai drove onward towards what he believed to be, what he prayed to be, his fate.

The day of final examinations arrived, and despite being on autopilot and mostly going through the motions, Banzai knew he was performing well. None of the maneuvers or tests posed much of a challenge for him, and his partner was keeping up without issues. Eventually, it all came down to one last trick: a pair of tornadoes spun in opposing directions that would be directed into each-other and dissipated. On paper, it was a dangerous move, perhaps even lethal if botched. In practice, it was a common trick for the Wonderbolts, as it depended mainly on trusting your wing-pony to stick to the plan and follow through. Banzai barely knew the pony he was flying with, but he knew she knew the technique, and stuck to his component perfectly- and thankfully, she did the same. The duo merged the tornadoes and completed the exam without incident, but despite their success, Banzai couldn't escape a feeling of dread that lingered through the day as he waited for other teams to take their turns.

In the end, Banzai's feelings were well founded. Though he performed exceptionally, he learned at sunset that he had not been accepted into the team: his skill was not questioned, but rather his ability to work with others. It seemed that Banzai's anti-social streak in the weeks leading up to the examination had not gone unnoticed, and had removed him from the running before he even left the ground. Banzai made no secret of his devastation, packing his bags and departing the Academy in tears.

The next few weeks passed in a blur, with Banzai wandering back into the seedier sides of Stalliongrad, hopping bars and blowing what remained of his academy stipend on vodka and motel rooms, his dream shattered and his hopes for the future along with it. He felt he had nowhere left to go, unwilling to crawl back home to toil in the factories again yet unable to figure out where else to go or what to do. Banzai felt truly broken and hopeless, crying himself to sleep every night as his anger and depression grew.

Whether it was fate or coincidence that changed his sad circumstances, Banzai would never know. What he knew was the face that walked into one of his frequented bars a week to the day after he left the Academy in shame: one of the graduates, one of the ones who had been chosen. A Wonderbolt, albeit out of uniform and accompanied by several other ponies for what looked like a simple night on the town. Banzai didn't mind when they walked in, laughing and drinking. He didn't care about the looks of amusement from their faces as they noticed his presence and his sorry, unkempt state. He didn't even react when that one graduate began making jokes about his reaction to the news that he hadn't been chosen.

When he called him a blank flank, it was like Tartarus opened underneath that bar. Banzai didn't think, didn't stop to wonder about possibilities or consequences. He let years of anger, bitterness, and hatred explode from him upon the ponies who had finally broken the camel's back. One by one, he hit them with bottles, with chairs, or with his own hooves. He spared none of his considerable strength in his blows. And as quickly as it began, the fighting stopped. Four battered and broken ponies laid unconscious at his hooves midst an empty and equally broken bar. All of the rage, all of the bitterness had finally been released, and it had felt amazing.

It was only the next morning, long after he had quietly departed the bar and slept well for the first time in weeks that he noticed it: his cutie mark had finally appeared to him, and Banzai couldn't believe it. By beating a group of ponies within an inch of their lives, he had discovered his special talent?! At first, he was mortified: what kind of pony was born only to hurt others? And yet, as he replayed the previous night over and over again in his mind, he felt no regret; there was only sweet satisfaction and the wonderful rush of adrenaline. Suddenly, the things he did, the injuries he gave those ponies, bothered him a lot less. If this was what he was meant to do, how could it be wrong?

This realization washed over his mind like a calming tidal wave, as Banzai genuinely laughed for the first time in years: at long last, he knew who he was, what he was born to be. He no longer cared what he had to do, or who he had to do it to: if it meant no longer flailing in his life, no long being uncertain of his reason to exist, he would accept being hated, being hunted by society. If his special talent was to hurt others, to cause strife and conflict, then so it would be.

Character Summary/Personality: Banzai is an odd pony to meet. Off the clock, as it were, he's very social and laid-back, the type of pony who would invite you to a bar and pay for your tab so long as you could take a joke and tell a tale or two. He's loud, he's abrasive, his sense of humor ranges from dry sarcasm to raunchy quips about mares, and after years of restraining himself and letting the world trot all over him, Banzai speaks what he thinks as bluntly as a sledgehammer to the face. He can also be cocky about his skills, in anything, and isn't afraid to broadcast it.

If you anger him or just so happen to be his mark for the day, however, Banzai is a brutal and dangerous pony who has little restraint and zero mercy. Learning of his special talent has led to Banzai lessening his grasp on morals, and the volatile stallion can be quick to start a fight. Nevertheless, he's far from suicidal, and will not attack somepony he knows could defeat him- not without a plan, at least. He fights with a zeal and sheer excitement that few ponies can match, and truly enjoys the rush of battle and the thrill of seeing an opponent defeated at his hooves. The difference is almost night and day, and Banzai can shift between the two 'sides' of himself without warning. If there is a major flaw to his style of fighting, it is that he enjoys prolonging a fight to get the most out of the rush.

His time in the REA has left Banzai with a strong desire for camaraderie, something he realizes is in understandably short supply for a pony like himself. This lack of companionship is probably the one thing he regrets the most about his talent, and he spends many days in the seedier sides of Equestria looking for ponies who would befriend someone as unusual as himself.

Banzai holds a deep-seated hatred of two things: hard labor and the Wonderbolts. The former because it reminds him of his parents and the hellish life he led before, and the latter because he looked up to the Wonderbolts as a dream made reality, only to have that dream shattered like glass simply because he strove to excel. Despite no longer having a need for a dream, Banzai still deeply enjoys the sky, and regularly takes flights purely for the fun of it, but he never performs any of the aerial tricks he learned at the Wonderbolt Academy; to him, the memories associated with them are poisonous, and distract him from his new purpose in life.

This profile is more or less completed as it is, so far as detail goes. The History section is a little long, but I can't figure out how to trim it more without removing vital information to Banzai's character. Maybe an RPH can help me compress it a bit, but otherwise I feel it's ready for review.

[Armony]

Hi there! You have a very strong application here, there's just one minor issue that needs corrected before I can stamp this. All ponies, regardless, earn their cutie mark before they reach adulthood. You'll have to pick an earlier point in Banzai's history for him to earn his cutie mark. Aside from that, what you have here is good, and I look forward to giving this a stamp of approval soon.

[Slazer]

Thank you, Armony.

I may not have been clear on when he received his cutie mark. When I plotted this out, I figured that Banzai left Kuznitza in his early to mid teens and received his cutie mark just a few months shy of adulthood, and tried to write it with that timing in mind; the sizable delay in him finding his special talent is the catalyst for a lot of the things he does in his backstory. I'll see if I can either clear that up or put the detail a little sooner in his story.

[Armony]