Name:[/u]
Boulder Dash (No relation to Rainbow Dash)
Gender:[/u]
Male
Age:Teen/Young Adult (19)
Species:[/u]
Pegasus
Pelt Color:[/u]
Light Blue
Mane/Tail Color & Style:[/u]
A brown, typical and non-style main and tail.
Eye Color:[/u]
Brown
Cutie Mark:[/u]
A pickaxe and shovel cross-bone designResidence:Manehattan
Occupation:Student of Geography and Archeology
Talents & Skills:Spelunking, mining, general exploration, and surviving in extreme conditions (as in out in the wild where he can find food or make a basic remedy from vegetation lying around).
Likes:To be out in the field (or, rather, cave) and exploring new wonders first-hoof. Though he also has a sweet spot for small towns and diners, trying out local and home made cuisine. He also fancies himself to listen to strangers and pick up on local urban legends, interested in investigating them if they're worth merit.
Dislikes:The fact of his inability to fly due to of an accident when he was younger, despite being a pegasus. He's also got a phobia of spiders, a strange thing to have considering the line of work he's in.
Character Personality:Brave in the sense that he is willing to go where most other ponies would fear to trot due to his upbringing with his parents. He is also a natural curious foal, asking questions and wanting to learn what he can about the world around him. However, this does not include the reading of books, which he finds boring. He'd rather be out there in the world, doing the real thing and working with his own hooves to discover the mysteries the world has available. Naturally, Boulder Dash is adventurous. However, if anything posing an actual threat to him, he'll turn tail and leave. Double this if there are any spiders, which gives him the willies more than anything else.
Bio:Boulder Dash is the only child to two pegasus professors who teach at the Manehattan College. The mother's name is Sapphire Dash and the father is Geode Dash, otherwise known as Professor Sapphire and Professor Geode respectively by their peers and students. Together the pair teach a combination of geology and archeology at the high-end college.
Due to this influence of knowledge around him, Boulder Dash has often had a fascination with caves, ruins, volcanoes, and other such things that can be found scattered across the land. His parents were also always supportive to take their son with them wherever they went, be it to the classes where they taught or out in the field for research.
Yes, even when Boulder was but a little colt, he got to experience the wonders of ancient pony architecture first-hoof. The way that the ancients would carve the stone, the monuments to ancient gods or worship to the sun and moon, the alignment with the stars... it was like being surrounded by genius. Other times, he'd be in dangerous, dark caves having himself a true adventure. While other ponies would just pretend to be cave explorers, Boulder got to do the real thing- It was a dream come true!
But dangerous labyrinths are no place for a young pegasus. While most of what young Boulder Dash got to explore were secured areas of ruins, very well lit and free of any monsters, there was one incident where he had wandered off on his own, sneaking away to see if he couldn't make a drastic discovery on his own and become famous. What it all led to, sadly, was a giant spider's nest. Quickly becoming entangled in the webs, Boulder could only neigh out a few shrieks before becoming completely covered in the sticky silk, unable to break free or cry for help. The next thing he knew was being bit in his left wing by the spider before blacking out.
Thankfully, it didn't take long for Geode and Sapphire Dash to locate their son and drive off the massive spider. With no time to act and no clinic to treat Boulder's wounds, the spelunking team had to make do with their field knowledge and remedy an antidote to save Boulder's life. However, what damage the poison had delivered had already been done, paralyzing Boulder's left wing for life, forever leaving him grounded.
This traumatizing incident had left Boulder a deep fear of all kinds of spiders, ranging from the large cave spider to the harmless housefly eating spider. But the love to explore ruins and caves was still as strong as ever, though he had learned not to wander off alone again.
The years following the spider accident, Geode and Sapphire Dash made it a point not to bring their son along on any more explorations until he was older and much more mature. Before the pair had always worked on their research together as a team, but now they found themselves coming to the choice of taking turns of one parent staying at home to watch over their son as he went to school like the other children and the other leaving on their journeys. Boulder understood, but inside resented the fact that he couldn't go to caves anymore.
Years and years passed. Boulder's parents still taught at the college while doing field research. After each return home, the parent that left would bring their son back something that they found and were able to keep, be it beautiful geodes or crystals found in caves or miniature statues from ruins. This left Boulder to have an impressive and semi-valuable private collection.
Current day, Boulder Dash is a student at Manehattan College, studying in geography and archeology just like his parents before him. Since mom and dad are professors at the college, Boulder does have a few advantages at his side. He doesn't have to spend as much time in a classroom like the other ponies and is often a candidate to go with research teams to study things up close and personal.
Now, Boulder is out on break and is taking time to see the world outside the city or the ruins he's usually curled up in.