Featherwing Zephner

By Scribblegroove

• August 4, 2015
, No, Not Cast Elder

Featherwing is a very old snow-owl gryphon. As such, a lot of the feathers on his head have fallen out, the results of what he himself likes to call his 'receding featherline'. On top of his wrinkly head there's a bunch of feathers left, but his neck and face are bare and visible. Although his entire body shows his age, it's most visible in his face, where the already naturally wrinkly bare skin shows pigments spots that have come with the years. His yellow eyes still shine brithly, deeply burrowed in his face, glaring from underneath his heavy eyebrows. He naturally seems to have this compassionate smile on his face.

 

His feathers are brightly white, with his wings showing a few black spots like most snow owls do. The fur on his body a dark tone of grey, and his claws and beak are black. Due to these colors, he seems like he's always formally attired, even though he's wearing nothing. Often you'll see Featherwing wear his old conductor's outfit because it looks so good on him, even though it's far too formal for every day use.

 

Reminiscent to the appearance of an elder, Featherwing has rather thin and boney limbs. His back is still reasonably strong, and his wings can still produce enough lift to sustain flight, but he tends not to fly anymore. The feathers perched on his head are rather scruffy, but they tend to fall neatly naturally. Sometimes, when he's rather energetic, his hairdo will be a tad wilder, and it generally reminds ponies of what a silly old gryphon this calm and formal conductor can be.

 

His eyes are quite a feature. They shine brightly constantly, as if they're always in amazement. They stand in strong contrast with his otherwise rather dusty appearance. His face always shows his excitement, his passion and his friendliness. There aren't many times where you'll catch him with a frown on his face. In fact, there aren't many times anypony will be able to frown when they see the pure inspiration radiating off of Featherwing's face.

male Griffon Not applicable.

Featherwing is and always be a teacher. Not your average school teacher, but one that produced the quotes that you'll always find yourself coming back to. Somehow it'll be his voice in your head when you think: "I should try to look at this from a different perspective" or "Perhaps I should look more towards the oppertunities than the setbacks". Kind, compassionate, wise, intelligent, and at appropriate times very humorous and rather silly. Although Featherwing has always been very charismatic towards everypony, he is most convincing towards his younger peers, managing to grasp their attention and inspire them anytime, anywhere.

 

However, his wisdom and charisma comes at a price. Age. Although he tries to hide it, the years are really starting to take their toll on Featherwings lifestyle. He can no longer do the things he always did, he tends to have far too little energy to express himself as rigoriously as he wants to. Sometimes, to his own shock, he even realises that he grows tired of the curiosity of youngsters. Afraid of turning into a grumpy old gryphon, Featherwing does his best to make sure that nopony notices the pain that he suffers at times, both mentally and physically.

 

Some things are far too apparent however. Featherwing tends to have trouble keeping up with conversations, and his hearing isn't the best anymore either. This makes him very grumpy, because he loves immersing into good conversation and being a part of the group. On top of that, as much as he tries to remain up to date with recent developments in music and culture in general, his mind tends to fail him at the worst times possible, often leaving him in an emberassing predicament, sometimes even resulting into him being thrown off his trail of thoughts so badly that he forgets what he was talking about.

 

But no matter how kind Featherwing is, there are a few things that he cannot tolerate and will give him a bad mood instantly. Although he can understand the naïvety of youth, he expects grown up ponies to respect his age. He doesn't demand others to respect him, but he does expect them to keep in mind that he's gotten old, and that he needs a helping hoof at times. He likes to remain a part of society, and being left alone in the cold despite of all his efforts to be kind and helping infurates him. Another thing that annoys him to no end is the constant discussion that happens in certain conversations. Some ponies tend to give counter arguments to words of advice instead of listening and learning. Even in friendly conversation there are rascals that undoubtedly think they're always right and never give in to other ponies' ideas and solutions. When he discovers this bad habit in somepony, and it's a factor that returns constanly, he will point it out and berate said individual endlessly. Finally, losing his trust means that he will still act friendly towards you, but he will always have this contemptuous undertone in everything he says, making sure you are reminded of your heinous mistake to lie to him.

 

Those who are more acquainted to him know that there's another side to Featherwing. Sometimes he takes on the role of mentor. This is when he finds a student that has potential and ambition, or perhaps a those who he's come to like, but who he believes need a little push to become who they want to be. Towards them, he will act far less kind and compassionate, instead trying to push them to their limits. Instead of saying "wonderful, you did a good job" he'll say "wonderful, now do it again, better this time!". He becomes very critical and dedicated, and somehow far sharper then his usual forgetfulness. Witty remarks, cynicism and ambition replace quirkiness and compassion. Of course, when he realises he's pushed a student too far he will still act with compassion. But once a student that has fallen gets back on it's hooves, he starts pushing again. And finally, when he believes they've become dedicated enough and self sustaining when it comes to motivation, he let's them go. These students become friends for life with him, and even those who used to hold a grudge against him come to realise how powerful his love and faith has been all along.

Likes: - Intentionally demotivating others<br />- Laziness and arrogance<br />- Old gryphon acquaintanes<br />- Overly pompous and elitist ponies<br />- Unnescesarily grumpy ponies, especially teachers<br />- Ponies who pay no consideration towards his age<br />

Featherwing Zephner has led a long life already, and it doesn't do it justice to quickly summarize everything without paying enough attention to detail. So please, if you do meet him, ask him to tell one of his stories. You'll find that there's a lot more to tell than this small backstory provides.

 

Born as part of a small pack of nomadic Gryphons somewhere far across the world Zephner spent his earliest years travelling constantly. It was a strange way to live, and it lacked most of the luxuries. Some ponies would call it a primitve way of living, others would call it quite a strange lifestyle. There was only one way Zephner wanted to call it however. Life. To Zephner, there was no other way worth living than going across the globe, making friends and seeing wonderous places. Although most of his family tended to be a bit more precautious with how outgoing they were, Zephner always took the time to go down to the small villages and talk to those living there, though usually he couldn't stay for long, because otherwise he wouldn't be able to catch up with the ever so fickle pack that was his family.

 

Contrary to the general attitude of his family, Zephner was very trustworthy, and even rather naïve. He was also very charismatic however, and his brothers tended to exploit this by using him as a distraction while they went about their sneaky plans, often stealing food, valuables or other things that didn't belong to them. Whenever Zephner found out about it, he became furious and vowed never to be a part of one of their tricks again, but it usally didn't work.

 

Whenever he and his fellow gryphons were flying in a group formation, Zephner loved to listen to the different and complex rythms that came to be as the collective beat of their wings constantly fluctuated. Some constantly changed pace, others had a strange combination of long and short beats, and some just had small wings they had to flap at a higher pace. But what was most intruiging to him is how sometimes his fellow gryphons unintentionally tended to follow the rythm of others, as long as their pace was steady and comfortable. After studying his friends and family for a while, he commenced and experiment. Every single time they went out to fly, he'd go ahead and stay in front. At first that would prove to be a problem, since the youngest ones always wanted to stay at front and made a competition of it. Once things had calmed down however, Zephner sneakily accelerated and ended up right at the front of the group.

 

He changed his pace proprtionally to what he had found when he had observed the others, and then closed his eyes to concentrate on the rythm. Slowly, very slowly, other started to follow him, until in about an hour of flying, the beat of their wings was almost completely simultaneous. No one realised this until Zephner cleverly pointed it out, with a grin on his face.

 

It didn't take very long for Zephner to grow tired of his family however. They were kind to him, but their sneaky and unjust ways bothered him to no end. He had grown up enough to take care of himself, and after a series of intense discussions with his parents, he was allowed to leave the pack and set his own path alone. This freedom started off as a burden for Zephner, but he leared how to take care of himself in the toughest situations, and thaught himself the powers of discipline and self-study. He spent days in libraries, trying to teach himself what his parents could not. He spend time in groups of artists, scientists or philosphers trying to put his knowledge to use. As he went across the globe he became a citizen of the world, and a very knowledgeable and wise one at that.

 

However, he truly met his passion when he went into his young adulthood. He came by a small town, where music was one of the most important aspects of everyponies' life. There was a small music academy where instruments were free to be borrowed, there were several small cafés and restaurants where music was played every night, and everypony understood and most of all loved music in any way. Zephner was baffled by all these new sounds. A cacophony of melodies always seemed to flow through the streets like a river. There, he spent a few of his years, for the first time in his life, in one place. He studied an instrument that he came to love, the piano, which he would master throughout the rest of his life. But he also practiced many other instruments, composing many pieces and bringing ponies together to make wonderful things. He eventually learned that he himself wasn't exceptional at playing an instrument, but that he was very good at composing songs, arranging other's ideas and communicating. He became an anchor point for many other musiscians to learn how to work together. To play together. Eventually, he managed to collect enough ponies to found an orchestra, which he got to be the conductor of. This was his true calling. To help others understand eachother, to help others work together and turn an idea into a wonderful creation. And as the players got their praise and the audience threw their roses at the impressive instrumentalists and solists, he didn't feel jealousy or despise. He was happy. Happy for them. Because he helped them make their own dreams come true.

 

So in a quite a few years, Zephner turned from an adventure hungry young world-traveller into a composer, teacher, conductor and pianist. But he was far from done. When he left the town he'd come to call home, after goobyes had been said and tears had been shed, he went across the world to learn and experience again like he used to, but also with a new goal in mind. To spread his knowledge, experience and wisdom, and to bring ponies together. He founded and conducted many orchestras after that, but also mentored young and inspired minds to help them become who they wished to be. He helped music and artistry grow whereever he went, in whatever way he could. Even instruments, genres or cultures he had no connection with whatsoever could use his help, and he'd get to learn something new in return.

 

But he found his new home in Equestria. Although he had passed through a few times, he only truly visited it when he was already middle aged. Fascinated with the ponies, the princesses, their culture and their society, Zephner decided to stay a while in equestria. That 'while' eventually became 'the rest of his life' up until now. He now teaches at the conservatory in canterlot, and mentors a few of the most prestegious students, whilst keeping his eye out for other young talents. He also founded a small orchestra of young ponies that he teaches and conducts, called the 'Canterlot Philharmonic Youth Orchestra'. They perform from time to time, but since the youngsters also have to go to school and simply play and enjoy their free time, they cannot perform as often as a professional orchestra would. But sometimes they go on tour through all of equestria, and they put up quite a show when they do! Zephner is incredibly happy with how he's living his live, and incredibly proud of what he has achieved, and how the music society is growing around him. He's hoping to experience even more of it and help as much as he can.

Thanks to @Gaviera for drawing this character. The picture really brings it to life!