Anchors Aweigh

By 95% Chance

• February 5, 2016
No Not Cast Adult

Anchors Aweigh is a large, workhorse-esque Earth Pony stallion. For a height reference I'd picture him roughly slightly taller than Big Macintosh, but not by much. His coat is a sort of light sea green, with his mane and tail being a more dodger blue color. His eyes are more of a dull golden hue. He sports a rather messy, unkempt mane and tail, it being given its usual windswept look by being out at sea. He can also be seen 90% of the time with a short beard along his jaw and chin. Like most workhorse type stallions, he also has fetlocks upon his hooves.

Male Earth Pony

A dark gray anchor, with a light brown rope threaded through and draped around it.

https://buffy.mlpforums.com/0a7893401b4980e0333605c455248904.png

Anchors Aweigh is a very quiet stallion, almost to the point where he could be mistaken for being mute. While this tends to come off as rude or off-putting to some, it's simply because (other than his crew) he rarely has anypony to talk to for any good reason. He expresses most of his emotions through actions, and as such is a very heartfelt pony. He would much rather wave to somepony than greet them verbally, give them a hug rather than telling affection, things of that nature. When he does talk, he can be very animated, sometimes gesturing with his hooves and pacing about as he speaks. Him speaking generally means he finds the situation pressing enough to do so, or that he's fond enough of somepony else or well acquainted enough to speak with them. He does not mind the company of others, in fact he enjoys it, he simply prefers to listen rather than speak when engaged with groups of other ponies. While he enjoys the company of others, he is just as well to spend time alone with his thoughts. His upbringing instilled in him a strong sense of helpfulness, and Anchors will not hesitate to help somepony out with something they need, provided that he can be of assistance in whatever task it is (as long as it's something he can actually help with, he's not gonna be able to assist with astrophysics or something like that!) Anchors Aweigh holds the utmost respect for his mother, and has strong family values that he puts above all else. If something were to ever happen to her, he would be the first pony to know and the first one to arrive. The one thing he cares about the most, second only to his dear old mother, is his ship "The Crystal Blue."


However, this is not to say that Anchors Aweigh is not without his flaws as well! This stoic stallion has and most likely will continue to inadvertently take on more and more tasks to help others, while simultaneously trying to complete his own work. This frequently leads to him being unable to get everything done and still have time to attend to his own responsibilities as he tries to please others. He can also be painfully oblivious when it comes to reading others' intentions and emotions, and it would not be hard to take advantage of his nice, helpful nature. This also puts him in some situations where things have to be (figuratively) spelled out for him, such as, for example, if somepony else were to take an amorous interest in him, among other things. Anchors is very stubborn as well, and incredibly down-to-earth, as well as honest. While he would never be blunt to the point of rude, he can come off as hardheaded and a bit rough at times, especially when trying to solve some sort of problem. He would end up trying the same things a few times, instead of trying something new immediately after a failure. As a bit of a side note, he is also on very, very bad terms with his brother Steel Vaults due to a rather large disagreement between the two brothers after their father passed away.

 

Overall, Anchors Aweigh is a nice, helpful stallion that, while a bit on the quiet side, is not without a big warm heart and care for his fellow ponies. Even though his inherent helpful and slightly oblivious nature can get him into some sticky situations, he is never without a plan (even if that plan may not be the best course of action). He holds a deep respect and love for his mother, and almost the polar opposite for his brother. This seafaring stallion is a quiet giant that makes a firm, lifelong friend once you get past his somewhat off-putting silence.

Likes: His brother, being confined to a small area for long periods of time, dancing (as he usually finds the size difference a bit much to work with), being pestered about why he won't talk

Born in the small coastal hamlet of Horseshoe Bay to a loving mother and father, Anchors Aweigh was a perfectly healthy foal alongside his brother, Steel Vaults. From a very young age, Anchors was outgoing and happy-go-lucky, and consistently went with his father out on fishing trips and trading jobs out at sea. It was this that gave him his love for the open ocean that persisted for the rest of his life, as more than a cumulative total of at least 6 years were spent on a ship alongside his dad. He would actually resent having to go to school, as it meant he couldn't go out sailing, but he understood that it was necessary, he simply didn't share the immense drive to overachieve at it like his brother did.

 

Throughout his adolescence he would begin to shoot up, growing large and developing a strong body like his father's through the combined sum of his genes and life at sea. Much to his mother's chagrin of course, as such a stallion goes through so much food, let alone having 3 of them around! it was around this time that his father would begin teaching him more and more about captaining a ship, seeing as how his interest in it wasn't fleeting and only seemed to grow with his age. Upon his graduation from school, Anchors's father formally gifted him his ship, thinking it the best gift that he could give to his son. Of course, it was! While Anchors may have had ownership of it, it was still his father who would use it the most, due to it being the way he made money for his family.

 

It was only at the end of Anchors's young adulthood that his father would stop captaining his ship altogether.
A fierce storm, as if conjured out of nowhere, had swept across the stretch of sea that the two brothers' father was returning on. Anchors however was not with his father while this was happening, instead having stayed to help his mother out around the house. As the storm pounded away at the small house on the bay, Anchors waited outside for his father to return, safe and sound as ever, his graying hair speckled with sea salt from his lengthy voyage. However, Anchors would never see his father, nor would he see the ship as a whole again. Instead, as the storm began to die down to a light drizzle, the remains of his father's ship would slowly begin to drift into the bay. Wood from the hull, pieces of the canvas sail, broken remnants of the figurehead, all of them torn and ravaged by the storm. And yet among them all, Anchors's father was nowhere to be seen. He had been swallowed by the great abyssal chasm of the deep blue. Anchors would continue to stay there at the shore, occasionally wading out into the water to gather up the pieces of the ship that drifted back, waiting in vain hope that he would see his dad come back. After about a day of silent grieving and gathering, Anchors would take some of the ship's remnants and create a makeshift headstone out of them, before finally venturing away from the shoreline. Anchors would disappear for about 2 more days, before finally returning back to his home. Strangely, he had not a look of sorrow, but one of determination upon his face,and carried in behind him a massive amount of materials upon a wagon. He spoke nary a word to anypony as he worked tirelessly, day in and day out at the pier leading into the bay.

 

He had decided to build his own ship to carry on his father's legacy.

 

It was at the end of this venture when this project would meet its crescendo and end in the two brothers resenting each other. Anchors could not understand why his brother Steel seemed to not even care about their father, or his death. And while this was untrue, of course, both brothers were wrong in different ways. Steel wanted to make sure that he could continue to support their mother, which was why he continued to pursue a higher education in banking and finance, and believing that trying to follow in his father's hoofsteps would only lead to more trouble. Anchors however, believed that this was the best way to make sure their family could keep going, by continuing his father's career and using that money to support it. As before, both were right and wrong, but it was this argument that left bad blood between the two siblings.

 

As Anchors put the finishing touches on the ship made out of the combined materials of his father's old ship and the ones he had bought, "The Crystal Blue" was finally born. It was nothing impressive, little more than a 40 foot Fore-and-Aft Schooner that Anchors made sure could be captained and maintained with a crew of just 1. But it was his, and it was the best way he could honor and remember his father. With that, Anchors would set sail, never to return to live in his childhood home. He would eventually find himself living in the Crystal Empire after accidentally following directions on a faulty map. Not that Anchors minded, it was a nice enough city, if rather bright and sparkly. As of now, Anchors makes a living importing and exporting goods, and performing other various shipping-related jobs, generally taking life as it comes, and visiting his dear old mother every now and again.

Anchors's ship, "The Crystal Blue." A 40 foot long For-and-Aft Schooner made out of Cedar and and Oak from the combined wreckage of his father's old ship and his own gathered/bought materials .It bears a figurehead upon the front of a Wendigo, with intricate designs etched into it by Anchors himself.