Borea

By Early Sunsets

• January 26, 2019




Age: 28

Gender: Male

Species: Earth Pony

Appearance: <p> Borea has a large burn scar on the right side of his body. It extends from his right hoof up to above his right eye, and goes about 1/3 the way down his right flank. </p>

Cutie Mark: <p> Borea's cutie mark is a swordfish, symbolizing his fearlessness, strength, and love for the ocean. It used to be a reminder of his father, but now it only fuels his anger. </p>

Personality: <p dir="ltr"> Borea was always unfriendly, but Midnight’s abuse after Satou died pushed him over the edge. After he left home, his experiences turned him into the stalwart, gritty pony he is now. He tends to keep to himself, more out of bitterness than shyness, though he can develop close bonds with like-minded ponies. He is quicker to anger than the average pony, but he is good at channeling his anger and putting it to good use, and can remain reasonably calm in tough situations. Borea is an exceptionally quick thinker, and this combined with his determination and leadership abilities makes him a good Captain. </p> <p dir="ltr"> Borea's nickname (Nami) was given to him by Satou. While he cast off this nickname soon after leaving home, he still occasionally reflects on his fond memories of childhood. </p>

Backstory: <p> (The backstory for Borea, Zephyr, and Sun Fire could contain sensitive content for some people, such as death of a family member, borderline domestic abuse, depression, and attempted suicide) </p> <p> Borea grew up in a small town just outside of Seaward Shoals with his younger siblings (Zephyr and Sun Fire, who are twins. Zephyr is a unicorn, and Sun Fire is a pegasus), his mother (Midnight Glimmer, a pegasus), and Midnight's closest childhood friend from a foreign nation (Satou). Borea's father (Magna, a unicorn), who was a crew member on one of the ships in Seaward Shoals, died in an accident when Borea was seven. The ship Magna was on ran aground on rocks while ferrying cargo, and nearly half the crew was lost to sea. After this tragedy, Satou moved in with Midnight to help her raise her three foals. When Midnight was at work, Satou would keep them entertained, raise them, give them nicknames from her home country, and teach them about music. Borea never particularly cared about these lessons, and usually preferred to study the seas while Zephyr and Sun Fire learned about music. Soon, his passion for the ocean and his strong personality gave him his cutie mark. Midnight had to work hard to support four ponies, so she was rarely home. As soon as the foals were asleep, Satou went out to help earn as much money as she could as a night guard.  </p> <p> Satou's earnings as a night guard were meager. She put nearly all of her time and money towards Borea and his siblings, leaving nothing left for herself. This lead to Satou's physical decline, to the point where she collapsed after years of exhaustion, and never got back up. At this point, Borea was fifteen, and Zephyr and Sun Fire were eleven. Midnight was distraught when this happened, and her resulting poor performance at her job caused her wages to decrease. Midnight had to work longer hours because of this, which resulted in increasing amounts of stress and only contributed to her worsening depression. She became more bitter and angry over time, and took much of her pain out on young Borea. She frequently yelled at him, threw things at him, and hit him. The only thing that kept him from fighting back was the memory of Magna. He could never follow after his father if he hurt his mother, so he controlled his anger. To get away from the abuse and make sure he never hurt his mother, Borea said goodbye to Zephyr and Sun Fire one night, and ran away at the age of sixteen. </p> <p> Borea ran to the docks at Seaward Shoals, hoping to find a ship needing a crew member. He stayed there for nearly a month, living off of food scraps and sleeping in an abandoned ship that had been left to rot on the sea shore. One lucky day, a Galleon named The Skua sailed into port. Borea practically begged the Captain to take him as a crew member, and the Captain allowed him to join, on the condition that he wouldn't get paid. Borea soon learned that The Skua and it's crew weren't ordinary. He hadn't noticed when he first walked aboard, but the ship carried over 100 cannons, and the crew was as harsh as the unforgiving seas they sailed. They spent their time transporting cargo across the planet, including near hostile territories and dragon habitats. Borea was stuck doing menial labor none of the other crew wanted to do, and was constantly the target of harassment due to his inexperience and age. He toughed it out though, and used his anger to motivate himself and kept himself from quitting. After nearly five years of scrubbing the deck, scraping barnacles from the bottom of the ship, cleaning the cannons, and being given the worst of every situation by the crew, he finally got his chance to prove himself to the rest of the crew. The Skua was attacked by pirates late at night, and a third of the crew was either unconscious or killed before they knew what was happening, including the Captain. Borea quickly rallied the crew, and they managed to turn the fight around and sink the pirate ship. He immediately gained the respect of the entire crew, and they voted him to replace the fallen Captain. </p> <p> As Captain of The Skua, Borea led the crew to become even fiercer, and the ship became feared by pirates, as the ship became known to fire upon any ship flying a pirate's flag. The Skua took out numerous pirate ships under Borea's command, including three of the most infamous pirate ships. Borea was captain for five years, before a band of pirates attacked all at once. Two Frigates and a Ship of the Line hid in a cove near Luna Bay, while a Brig acted as bait. As The Skua chased the Brig past the cove, the three hidden ships began firing on The Skua. The crew began to return fire, but they were too heavily outgunned to survive. The Skua managed to sink one of the Frigates before their gunpowder barrels exploded, killing almost the entire crew and horribly injuring Borea. When Borea came to, he was lying in a cave partially submerged in water with seaweed covering the right side of his face and body. When he tried to sit up, terrible pain flashed through him. It turned out the surviving crew, who numbered only three excluding Borea, had pulled him to shore and attempted to tend to his wounds. They took him to Vanhoover, where he received medical treatment for his burns. While he would survive, he lost his right eye and the use of his right foreleg. The three remaining crew members thanked Borea for the successful five years they spent as his crew, and moved on to join new crews. </p> <p> Borea spent the next year in rehabilitation, trying to regain the use of his right foreleg. He was never able to bring it anywhere near full strength, but it retains its full range of motion, and he can put a small amount of weigh on it before the remaining muscles give out. After he left the hospital, he had nowhere to go and didn't know what to do. Most of his wealth sank with his ship, so he didn't have enough money left to live off of for more than a couple of years. He spent most of the next year traveling across Equestria, recovering and strengthening himself to prepare for the day when he would eventually return to the seas and purge the waters of the filth that took his crew. </p>