Crankshaft

By FlutterShay

• December 12, 2013




Age: 25

Gender: Male

Species: Earth Pony

Cutie Mark: A gear, earned when in engineering school.

Personality: Crankshaft is usually deranged and psychotic, with a particular hate for pegasi and other flying creatures. When around Earth ponies and unicorns, he seems depressed, plotting, and questionable. Once a pegasus is in sight, though, he will get angry and dangerous. He is highly intelligent, especially when it comes to mechanics, and he has made many useful inventions.<br /><br />Since his accident, he has been left with a bit of a split personality. His rational pre-accident grad student side, and his impulsive and dangerous other half. Usually the impusive side has complete control, but his more sensible half seems to kick in at important moments, such as to stop a killing strike. His original personality is struggling hard to overcome what he's turned in to.

Backstory: As a young colt, Crankshaft’s dream was to be on the Ponyville weather team. The very thought of being up in the sky, moving away pesky rainclouds to brighten somepony else's day filled him with glee. Unfortunately, flying isn't really an option for an earth pony. But he wouldn’t lose hope.<br /><br /> Crankshaft was born into a family of earth ponies, and his father owned a mechanic shop, which his parents intended to pass on to him. Yet the green colt had no desire to fix telescopes and sewing machines his whole life. But as time passed, he discovered that his father’s skills could be of use to get him to his goal.<br /><br /> You see, Crankshaft already knew that wings made by unicorn magic were too fragile, and large flying machines were certainly out of the question. How could a pony soar straight through clouds with a hot air balloon? He set his sights higher; mechanical wings.<br /> <br /> Much to his parent’s delight, he started studying mechanics. Crankshaft’s primary focus was on those wings. With each diagram made, each book read, he got closer to his goal. And once he reached the right age, Crankshaft enrolled in a school for engineering. <br /><br /> Years passed, he was top of his class. But more importantly, after a few test flights, the final prototype for his wings was finally done. Sleek, ultra-light panels in place of feathers were held together with countless gears and hinges, allowing them to move as freely as those of a real Pegasus. Wires snaked from the base of the wings to a reception on his head, allowing him to move them quickly with the control of his own mind.<br /><br /> He had also invented a set of bracers that allowed him to touch clouds. How can you be in the weather team in you can’t touch clouds, am I right?<br /><br /> So on the day of weather team tryouts, he strapped the wings on, hooked up the required systems, and took off. What a dream come true! On his way to the tryouts, the wind ruffled his mane and the wings clicked and clanked merrily as he flew. Crankshaft’s dream had finally come true! He truly felt as if he were on top of the world.<br /><br /> Although, the tryouts were a different story altogether.<br /><br /> The team captain took one look at him and burst out laughing. "Weather team is only for pegasi, kid." she said. He tried to explain that his inventions allowed him to do just what pegasi could, but to no avail. "Sorry kid, but as long as pegasi are still around, we don't need any phonies."<br /><br /> And with that, Crankshaft was immediately dismissed from tryouts, a mix of laughs and apologies came from the pegasi remaining. But he didn’t hear them, he just drowned them out.<br /><br /> He was distraught. "I CAN do just what the pegasi can!" He thought on his flight home. But how could he prove it? A low growl of thunder gave him an idea. A storm was coming in from the east, carrying lightning and thunder with them. He could clear the skies! So he headed off. <br /><br /> Upon reaching the storm, electricity crackled in the air. But his determination overpowered his common sense. He aimed for the largest storm cloud and shot straight through. Now, if Crankshaft had been thinking straight, he would’ve remembered that metal makes an amazing conductor for high amounts of electricity…lightning, for example.<br /><br /> The metal in his wings and bracers sent the electricity in the cloud straight through his entire body, and the wires hooked to his head controlling the wings sent the current straight through his skull and into his brain. And the last thing he saw before dropping like a stone was the sight of the pegasi recruits flying towards him. Then everything went black…<br /><br /><br /> In what the doctors called a medical miracle, Crankshaft survived with little physical damage. Of course, mental damage was a completely different story. And what the weather patrol captain had said was left in his head. "As long as pegasi are still around, we don't need any phonies." He didn’t remember why he retained this information, but he knew something needed to be done about it.<br /><br /> After being permitted to leave the hospital, Crankshaft holed himself up in his university dorm. What must he do about what has happened? His brain, scarred as it was from the events of that day, simply refused to let him drop the subject. The more he tried to push the memory aside, the more intense it got, until he simply couldn’t take it anymore.<br /><br /> "As long as pegasi are still around…we don’t need any phonies." The quote rattled around in his skull. <br /><br /> And from then, his superfried brain came up with a brilliant plan: dispose of the pegasi. ‘Sure, it may seem impulsive, but what’s so bad about that?’ Crankshaft thought. <br /><br /> It was so simple! Kill them, send them away, it doesn't matter. As long as they're gone, others can fly! It may be a stretch, but the chance of flying on the weather team set his not-all-there mind into action. First step; make new wings.<br /><br /> So he constructed a better and safer pair of wings, with rubber caps on the wings and a wireless transmitter to control the wings. Crankshaft had decided that being electrocuted once was perfectly enough. The next day, Crankshaft scrounged enough bits from inventions and blueprints to purchase an old warehouse outside of town. Not too classy, but it will certainly do.<br /><br /> But how was he supposed to dispose of the entire pegasus race? His eyes locked on an old paring knife that he had packed in his suitcase. ‘Well…’ He thought as he picked up the knife. ‘I suppose the idea will come as quite the SHOCK when I finally think of something.’ He chuckled at his own joke as he unpacked his meager belongings into an old dresser.<br /><br /><br /> “Well well, Cranky.” He said to himself. “Five months in the business, and you’ve already made a name for yourself!” And it was true. He had already gone down in infamy as the Pegasus Punisher. The pony (Or organization, as far as authorities could tell) who would capture pegasi before they appeared in a random location; dead or otherwise with severe mental and physical injuries. He had been sloppy with his first few attacks, nearly left the game just as it had begun.<br /><br /> He loomed over the Pegasus colt strapped to his table in the basement of his warehouse, his mechanical wings still clicking the seconds away. He looked into the eyes of the terrified colt as he reached for his knife. “There, there, this isn’t going to hurt…much.” He said as he brought the knife down on the colt’s outstretched wing.<br />