Autumn

By Ashen Pathfinder

• May 2, 2015




Age: Doe, young adult

Gender: Female

Species: Non-Pony

Appearance: Autumn's top coat is a dark brown; almost resembling black under the shade of the trees when the sun isn't out. The tone begins to turn light brown as you go down, then switches to white at the underbelly. The outer area of her legs are similar to the brown on her sides, with the inner being white.<br /><br />Her neck and head is similarly dark brown with black outlines on her ears. Her eyes are a soft turquoise, and her nose is black. Being female, she has no antlers.<br /><br />Lastly the upper portion of her tail is black, and the opposite side is white.

Personality: On the surface Autumn can seem quite stand-offish. Indeed, she's often found in the libraries of her home in Thicket pouring over books and scouring over maps. When someone tries to interact with her while she is in this mood she can be hateful towards them.<br /><br />She's not inherently hateful; or at least she doesn't try to be. Being someone who is oftentimes thinking and concentrating; losing her focus can get on her nerves easily. However, she can be nice towards her fellow deer and others; it just depends one what she is occupied with.<br /><br />Her main obsession being the lost history of her kind; she can be found on her own most of the time as interactions with other deer can be boring; considering that most other residents of Thicket don't share her level of enthusiasm for the subject.<br /><br />All of that aside, like other deer, she holds a certain love and understanding of the natural world around her; especially that of the Everfree Forest. She can also be somewhat standoffish towards the various races of ponies, though largely for reasons she can't pinpoint.<br /><br />Even with that attitude on ponies, she longs to visit other areas and, as such, has a hidden desire to adventure outside of the Forest...and maybe locate the lost remains of her kind's ancient cities.

Backstory: Autumn was born to her parents in the village of Thicket; located deep within the confines of the Everfree forest. She grew up as other fawns would; learning and interacting with the forest and nature in general. This included the magical potions that deer used to grow and repair the forests if need be. She was largely a happy fawn and she grew up as such, however one thing eventually occupied her mind as she grew into a doe.<br /><br />She learned that deer society was once much larger and prosperous many centuries ago; long before the pony tribes united under the banner of Equestria. Indeed she had learned that deer occupied various large city-states and had been a very powerful species for a long time until something happened. According to the texts and scrolls society declined for reasons unknown; the cities being abandoned as the populations dwindled.<br /><br />To her chagrin the texts were really vague on exactly what happened. As much as she loved Thicket, the idea of deer society being much bigger than it was now appealed to her. One name especially rang in her head: Stagharta.<br /><br />From what she read Stagharta was the beacon of deer civilization; essentially the Canterlot or Crystal Empire of deer so long ago. However, the texts also state that the city was located far away; across the oceans. This saddened her as she figured she'd never get the chance to visit these ruins, but the thoughts remained in her head, and thanks to one incident that almost destroyed Thicket her life suddenly changed.<br /><br />Thanks to a construction company that was cutting down part of the forest King Aspen reacted by invading nearby pony towns with the flora of of the forest. Seeing the destruction for herself she was immediately hardened against ponies until a visit from Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends helped to avail these worries. In time the company was stopped and the forest returned to it's original state.<br /><br />Thanks to the renewing and softening of relations between Thicket and Equestria, Autumn became curious of ponies and thanks to a passing mention she learned of a small pony town in which resided a noted adventurer and archeologist. Against the advise ofter deer she ventured outside of the Everfree and eventually came upon Derbyshire.<br /><br />Being away from home and in a town of non-deer she was initially very intimidated, but her desire for her kind's history won out. While she did get a few curious glances most didn't seem bothered by her. As she reached the museum where she was told the archeologist lived she was getting used to the scenery.<br /><br />Entering the museum she eventually came across Sojourner; the mare she had heard of. Requesting an audience with the enthusiastic curator she told her what she knew and if Sojourner could help her. Being intrigued by what Autumn told her, Sojourner agreed to help. She also couldn't help but feel excitement about potentially being the first to discover Stagharta; and maybe other deer ruins.<br /><br />Autumn really couldn't believe it; Sojourner was just as excited about this as she was, though she knew that the mare was more varied in her knowledge than she was. Staying for a while she got to know Sojourner more, as well as her friends Pathfinder and Stargazer. She learned of their various journeys, of their friend Corsair and his group, as well as the various places they have explored. Being so enamored Autumn wanted to stay and learn more, but she also wanted to stay in the forest.<br /><br />An idea came to her that she could live in the forest surrounding Derbyshire; thereby allowing her access to her new friends and the friendly town of Derbyshire. Returning to Thicket she announced her plans to those close to her. She wanted to move out, establish her own home in the forest around Derbyshire, and learned of the history of the deer. While her family was skeptical, King Aspen saw this as an opportunity to help the relationship between ponies and deer. With his blessing she built a treehouse near Derbyshire where she lives to this day.