Booker (Dark Themes / Images)

By Early Sunsets

• February 27, 2019




Age: 18

Gender: Male

Species: Pegasus

Appearance: <p> Booker usually wears striped red and black stockings and a dark red collar to hide his scars when he's out in public. He has two small silver hoop earrings in each ear and two more on his bottom lip. </p>

Cutie Mark: <p> Booker's cutie mark is notes on a staff, symbolizing his talent and passion for music. While his singing voice is his best musical aspect, he can play most musical instruments proficiently, with baritone saxophone and alto clarinet being his favorites. </p>

Personality: <p> Booker is generally soft spoken and prefers to be by himself quite often. He isn't antisocial; in fact, he loves being around other ponies. He just finds it physically and mentally draining to be around others for extended amounts of time. He isn't very assertive, but he doesn't actually mind just going with the flow. He often forgets to do basic things like eat and sleep, especially when he becomes absorbed in something he loves, which causes him to build up stress and leaves him exhausted. He's a perfectionist, he's extremely sensitive, and he tends to overthink everything, which causes him to seclude himself from potential friends and remain alone. He's constantly worrying about whether or not other ponies like him, which makes it hard for him to focus on his good qualities. He's honest and rather generous, and would give up anything for the ponies he loves. While he has a generally pessimistic outlook on life and the ponies around him, he still holds onto his hope that there is good in life and everything around him. He finds it quite embarrassing to talk about his history of depression to other ponies, and thus often opts for hiding anything that could raise questions whenever possible. </p>

Backstory: <p> Booker had quite the average youth in Canterlot. His parents rarely fought, he had an older sister he was close to, and he could make friends with almost anypony. Eventually, he got his cutie mark, without warning, in something he soon after discovered his deep passion for. By all accounts, a perfectly average upbringing. When he got to middle school, however, things began to change. He started to see the world for what it was and how corrupt ponies could be, lying and cheating to further their own agendas. He began keeping to himself more and more, making less and less friends and changing is view of life to be pessimistic. This went on until high school, where he met a mare named Burgundy with whom he fell instantly in love with. After a couple of awkward months, the two began dating. She brought out the good qualities in Booker, and he felt happier around her than he had in his entire life. Over the next year and a half, Booker began turning back into the happy, carefree pony he used to be. He looked forward to going to school just so he could be around her, and he found himself smiling when there was really no reason to be. However, Burgundy began wanting more than Booker could offer, being the quiet, shy pony he is. She began seeing another colt behind Booker's back. This went on for a month before one of Booker's friends told him what was going on. He stupidly chose to ignore his friend and trust Burgundy, and continued dating her for another month, until he stumbled upon proof that Burgundy was being unfaithful. He was helping the band director clean out part of the band room after school one day, and when he went out behind the school to throw away some trash, he saw Burgundy and another colt kissing, just like his friend hat told him one month prior. This shattered Booker. The shock of it kept him going for the rest of the day, but as soon as his head hit the pillow that night, he broke down crying. After this event, he coasted through his classes, his outlook on life becoming bleaker and his happiness rapidly slipping away. He became extremely reclusive, rarely talking to anypony in school and only leaving his room at home when necessary. He cared less about how he affected others, and even began snapping at other ponies whenever they annoyed him. To mask his emotional pain, he began cutting, which in the end only proved to be detrimental to his mental health. After six months of this unbearable pain becoming worse and worse with no visible end, he decided to slit his throat and take his own life. He very nearly died, but luckily his sister arrived home just in time to save his life and rush him to the ER. When he woke up in the hospital two days later, he was barely coherent. Doctors and therapists came in and out constantly, checking on him and asking him questions. He was never able to answer any of them though, breaking down after every one. After a week, he was cleared to be released from the hospital, and was transferred to a youth rehabilitation center. While none of the rehab exercises did anything for him, being around other ponies his age in similar situations helped vastly, and he managed to pull out of the worst of his depressive stoop. After two weeks, he was released home. While he wasn't suicidal anymore, the emotional damage had been done, and he never got out of his reclusive tendencies that had formed. He became even shyer than he was before, and he stopped making new friends. By the time he graduated high school, he only had two friends left, though his depression was pretty much entirely gone by this point. After he graduated, he chose to live on his own, rather than go to college. He got a job and stayed in an apartment courtesy of his parents for a year, just until he turned eighteen years old. After that, he took the sum he had saved up, said goodbye to his family, and left for Ponyville, where he hoped to find his destiny. </p>