Clandestine (Ready)

[Zealot]

Roleplay Type: Canterlot Chronicles

Name: Clandestine

Gender: Female

Age: Mare

Species: Unicorn

Eye colour: Blue

Character colour: Grey

Mane/Tail/Other: Her brownish mane and tail are both left long and look untrimmed and unwashed. Her highlights, once purple, are now dull pink with age. Another week as it is and it will soon become a crime against fashion.

Physique: Clandestine stands just a bit higher than an average mare. She's solid and tough, as a soldier should be, though she isn't completely built like a brick. There's the undertones of a careful grace to her and despite her imposing build she moves with deft quiet. Her hooves are bare and hardened with ware.

Residence: A house in Ponyville. Clandestine's home is placed somewhat out of the way of other buildings. A poster hangs near the entrance declaring it the place of residence of "Clandestine, Private Security Contractor". She had rigged a small bell to ring as anyone enters. The house consists of two floors. The first consisting of a living room and kitchenette. Clandestine, being who she is, has put the furniture in a defensive posture. The sofa covers the approach from the stairs and several chairs are aligned to cover the kitchen. A fireplace sits on the east wall. A coffee table sits in the centre of the living room with a small stack of drawers by the fireplace. If you were to investigate the kitchen, well. Clearly the mare doesn't prioritise cleaning and several of the worktops are a tad dirty. If you were to investigate Clandestine's drawers, you'd find that she appears to hoard various items in them. These range from books to rocks to combat knives. The upstairs of Clandestine's house has a low ceiling and another two rooms. Immediately opposite the stairs is a large double bed sitting next to a window. The bed is neat and tidy laid with a plain white quilt. The window looks out along the street. There is a door on the right which leads to a walk in closet. Here a dress horse stands on one side of the closet equipped in the plate armour Clandestine wears when she is on mission. Other clothes are shunted neatly in the cupboards. It requires some space to equip armour, something that the mare has clearly thought of. Laid next to the armour is a saddlebag with provisions as well as a lance, standing casually against the wall. On the other side of the closet is a writing desk, equipped with a quill and ink. As well as a stack of parchment. While she is away on business, Clandestine will sleep wherever her client wants her to sleep. If there is no client, she will sleep wherever is cheap. Be that hotel or guest house. Failing that, she will sleep in a ditch or in a tree, or anywhere else with enough room to fit a pony and that has a dark corner to hide in.

Occupation: Clandestine used to be in the Equestrian Royal Army, she is now a PMC (Private Military Contractor). She hates the term 'mercenary' but essentially that's what she is. Clandestine can be hired as a bodyguard, or a security guard. She tends to be picky about her clients. The mare prefers the jobs that are for honest causes.

Cutie Mark: As a foal Clandestine always wanted to be a doctor. She loved the idea of being able to cure all ills and mend whatever was broken. This was not to be though. The filly struggled to remember anatomy and what she had to do in certain situations. She soon grew bored of biology classes and this left her feeling somewhat dejected. She wanted to help, but just couldn't. The chain of events that sparked her cutie mark started with when she stormed out after a particularly heated discussion with her sister. The argument was about the lot of everyday ponies. Clandestine was trying to reason that they all deserved help no matter who they were while her sister seemed to think that the more important ponies should get better treatment. Clandestine hit the streets as she so often did and eventually found a military parade going on in the town of Trottingham. One of the guards saw she was upset about something and offered her help. Naturally Clandestine was suspicious and wanted to know why he was so interested in helping her. He explained that he was a constable of the guard and it was his job to protect ponies. Clandestine quite liked that idea, after all she'd always been good at physical activity. She decided that if she couldn't heal other ponies, she would stop them being hurt in the first place. The young filly began standing up for her friends and classmates against whatever bullies they faced and got into quite a lot of fights. Even as a filly she trained for it so as a consequence, most fights she won, she still lost a few times though. It was after her first successful defence of a poor foal being deprived of his lunch money that she earned her cutie mark, a blue kite shield.

Unique Traits: Magic - As a unicorn, Clandestine has access to a number of spells to help her in a combat situation. She can teleport short distances, though this takes quite a bit of energy understandably. She can cast a magelight, a blinding flare, a small fog, light small fires, make certain sounds emanate from a certain space and summon a small kinetic blast. Clandestine can make a magical ward which, although doesn't make her invisible, allows her to blend into a crowd or a dark corner easily. You can see her, you just don't notice her, almost as if you just saw her in the corner of your vision. This spell can be countered simply by focusing on her, though the subject would need a reason to focus on Clandestine for that counter to work. Clandestine's most powerful spell is a defractor field that she can cast on herself, or an ally. A defractor field works by knocking high speed projectiles away from the field user rather than stopping them dead. It essentially causes them to skim past the user rather than just knocking off a shield bubble. This field only works against high speed projectiles as well, so it won't stop a lance or a hoof. It will however protect the user from a hail of arrows or bolts quite effectively

Martial abilities - Clandestine is a proficient brawler and hoof-to-hoof fighter. She is also skilled in the use of a lance and shield. Clandestine relies on cunning and skill to defeat an opponent rather than brute force. She wears half plate armour in most combat situations similar to that of the Canterlot royal guard and will often circle around opponents to attack from the flank or rear. Though she has passed her peak, she's still young. Though it is unlikely she'll get any better than she already is.

Stealth- While Clandestine's talent lies in protecting ponies, this also gives her a unique insight on how to penetrate said defences. The mare has, on more than one occasion, found herself on an operation that requires stealth. She has found that she prefers this method of offense to more conventional models of warfare. As such, she is a proficient ambusher and infiltrator. These experiences have allowed her to see how the other side lives and means when on the defence, she can form a much better defensive perimeter. As that old saying goes, set a thief to catch a thief. Though Clandestine is hardly an assassin, her tactics are more in line with what you would expect from a guerrilla than a hired assassin.

History: Clandestine was born in Trottingham to a one Countess Pristine Shine and Count Dark Heart. Both minor nobles in the veritable web of high society in Trottingham. Although neither of Clandestine's parents titles actually mean anything, they certainly have the wealth and status to accompany such names. Clandestine's father owns a sizeable amount of a major fast food chain as well as a number of other businesses throughout Equestria. He is a business man and is rarely at home, uninterested with the idea of family. Her mother isn't much better. A rabid socialite who only really married the business man to float up her ancient and very bankrupt family name. Her mother can trace her lineage all the way back to the original nobles of the unicorn tribe, and she doesn't let anyone forget it. She is obsessed with the idea of dynasty and restoring their legacy. Something which Clandestine cares little about. Clandestine's sister Mercia took after her mother and the two siblings fought often. The mare tolerated her family until she was old enough to join the military, which naturally she did without telling them and left town as fast as she could. Clandestine thought about serving in the constabulary, but the idea that she'd have to spend more time in Trottingham was repellent. The idea of travel was what brought her to join the Equestrian army. She passed basic training with flying colours and served with distinction for several years earning her the rank of Sergeant by the time she decided she'd had enough. That was when she started noticing that time was catching up with her. Passing her peak was scary for the mare, after all, there was still a lot she wanted to do. Her mother had always wanted to marry her off to a rich stallion to advance the family name, Clandestine wants none of that. If she is to find love it will be on her own terms. She wanted the quiet life but there isn't much work for an ex-soldier so Clandestine has taken up private security work. She moved to Ponyville and acts as an escort to ponies that want to delve deep into the Everfree forest. Clandestine has connections across Equestria who help her find work guarding caravans and protecting VIPs. She gets around, but most days she's in Ponyville trying to adjust to the life of a civilian. Something which is proving to be quite difficult.

Character Summary/Personality: Clandestine has a reputation for being blunt and cold. But this is rarely true. Clandestine is more than willing to meet someone new, even if that's hard for her. She is a soldier, through and through and she can't just simply switch that part of her brain off. Clandestine is always looking for the next threat in the room, the next double cross and the next fight. While this doesn't stop her from striking up a conversation, it certainly impedes her ability to remain calm in an everyday setting. She's jumpy and always on watch. The mare is scared that ponies won't accept her because of the life she's lived and there's an imposing aura of danger about her that many nervous ponies pick up on. Clandestine likes to act as if she doesn't care about her hygiene or her looks but in many ways they mean a lot to her. She physically doesn't know how to make herself look pretty but is far too proud to ask someone to teach her. Surprisingly the unicorn cleans up well, though that has only ever been achieved in the distant past. Clandestine is friendly, but it's forced. Her conditioning gets in the way and she hasn't yet been able to turn that off and properly relax. The unicorn is most at ease around other military types. Her old comrades were a great source of strength for her, but most she got close to are either dead or have moved on with their lives. On top of all of this she's dealing with the great fear that she may very well die alone and unloved, but her soldier's mindset won't let her process that properly. Instead she comes off as a nervous, awkward mess who is trying to be sociable for reasons she doesn't realise. On the face of it, her biological clock is ticking. It forces her into situations she finds very uncomfortable because her mental conditioning and training are fighting against it. She knows she'd like to find civilian friends and maybe even a nice stallion to settle down with but doesn't quite know why. That fear is buried deep in her subconscious causing her to have nightmares and violent flashbacks of her time as a soldier. Her mannerisms vary from awkward sort of friendly to full blown drill sergeant and just about everything in between. Clandestine enjoys adventure and physical challenges, however she often has a hard time with the idea that it's just for fun. She has found that she quite likes reading books, though isn't an avid reader. Adventure stories tend to annoy her as they all seem very fake to one who has lived through war for a good number of years. She likes technology as well and is fascinated by architecture. Naturally Clandestine hates the upper classes because of her upbringing and stereotypes them all as just like her mother. The rulers of Equestria are a particularly sore point as well. Clandestine thinks they don't do enough to help out the military and that they let politics get in the way of what are otherwise solid battle plans. Her opinion is that the grunts do all the work while they get none of the credit. Overall Clandestine is an old soldier who is desperately trying to adapt to life outside the military. She wants acceptance and is willing to go outside her comfort zone to get it, preferably before time runs out on her youth.

Note: Not sure if I will have to make edits. Unclear on how much I was allowed with dark and violent.

[Mojo]

Hi there!

Looking over your app, all of the required fields are filled and it's well written.

Since this is a CC app, I believe the level of dark and violence here is acceptable.

Recommending this app for further Senior RPH analysis.

[Armony]