Earth Pony Bowsprit [Final]

[Snowshoe]

Roleplay Type: Mane RP

Name: Bowsprit (pronounced 'bao', like the bow of a ship)

Sex: Male

Age: Young stallion

Species: Earth pony

Eye Color: Light blue

Coat Color: Faded Orange

Mane/Tail/Markings Color & Style: Short mane and tail, mane a bit rounded at the top and scraggly toward the back, and an unkempt tail, both brown.

Physique: A little on the lighter side than most Earth ponies, and a bit short for his age too.

Cutie Mark: A vertical anchor with a small length of rope wrapped loosely around it.

Origin/Residence: Gallopocus Islands

Occupation: Sailor and tour guide. He and his ship, the Tub Toy II, run tours out of the Gallopocus Islands, taking divers out to the best spots, sightseers around, and more.

Motivation: Allow other ponies to take in his love of the sea, and of course, earn some money on the side.

Character Summary: Bowsprit was born into a family of ponies that were two fins away from being Seaponies. His father was a shipwright on the Gallopocus islands, a fairly well known one too named Jib Sail, and his mother, Brightwork, helped his father out, using her talents as a unicorn pony to help put the finishing touches on the ships that his father rolled out. Anypony who had purchased a custom ship from Jib Sail got something quality: workmanship of the highest calibre, tidied up and given a filigreed nameplate. It came as no surprise then that Bowsprit came to love the water just as much. He loved to swim, to free-dive down as far as he could to the coral around the Islands, and of course, to sail.

And sailing happened to be what he was best at, and something Jib Sail liked: now they could test out the ships before sending them off to the customers (as if there were every any problems), and test Jib's personal, custom designs. In fact, it was Bowsprit's natural skill at the helm and sail that saved him and his father one day, AND earned him his cutie mark. To be entirely fair, they should never have gone out...there had been a storm brewing, but Jib Sail had been insistent that the trip would be quick. He just wanted to test out his new ship design, a fancy new yacht he called the Dragon Boat, for good reason: the figurehead was of the open, roaring mouth of a dragon.

The only thing that had more fury than a roaring dragon was the storm that had come in much faster than either Bowsprit or Jib Sail could have expected. Jib Sail had been moving along the deck when the first wave hit, and Bowsprit was at the helm, trying to get the cutter turned back around. The wave crashed into the side of the ship, not capsizing it but bowling over the top. For one terrifying moment, Bowsprit couldn't see his father and thought the Earth pony had been washed out to sea...until he saw him collapsed in a pile of rope, knocked unconscious from the force of the wave and hitting the mast. Knowing he had to get the ship back soon, Bowsprit stayed at the helm, expertly piloting the Dragon Boat back to shore. In the frenzy to get his father off the ship and to the shelter of their home near the water (he was okay, just dazed), he didn't even notice the anchor-and-rope cutie mark that had appeared on his side.

From that day on, Bowsprit had been manning the helm of Jib's ships when he wasn't helping build the things. Then one day, he got an idea as he sailed his personal catboat, the Tub Toy (which he'd built by his own hooves, with his father's help of course) toward the Seasaddle bay. Not many ponies got to go out to sea like this, and enjoy the calming effect of the rocking in the waves and the quiet of the ocean, or get to sea all manner of stunning aquatic life. And that idea inspire him. Still barely a colt, he spent an entire day in his father's workshop by the sea, sketching up designs for an upgrade to the little catboat...the two masted schooner Tub Toy II. It took a year and a half for the combined efforts of Jib Sail and Bowsprit to build the ship, but soon, out of a little wooden office newly erected a few metres down the beach from his family's workshop and home, Bowsprit and the magnificent dark blue schooner puttered around the islands and the southern shores of Equestria, carrying tourists, whale-watchers, divers...he typically did scheduled tours, but he also chartered the Tub Toy II on occasion for said divers. He may be young, but Bowsprit is living his dream and loving life, and figures that he'll be sailing these tours for a very long time.

[SunsetSombra]

I think this one ticks all of my boxes nicely - very nice l'il app as far as I can tell.

Have a stamp - Good luck!

[Dio]