Dancer

By Convergence

• June 4, 2014

Age: 32

Gender: Male

Species: Non-Pony

Appearance: An average sized zebra. Thick black stripes curve around his lean body. While being skinny, his body is corded with muscle.

Cutie Mark: a sword piercing a turbulent body of water. The cutie mark is black and white to match his stripes. This cutie mark exemplifies Dancer's ability with the sword. It demonstrates his mastery of motion, patterns and acrobatics.

Personality: Pride and honour. Dancer lives, breathes and will die by the sword. He is generally calm and level headed. Slow to anger or upset, but is ultimately unforgiving and harsh to those that he feels have disrespected him. If a pony crosses the line, he will challenge them, and a challenge only has two outcomes. The first, the accused takes back and apologizes for whatever they had done, or they duel. When dancer duels, it is not over until one of them is dead.<br /><br />While definitely not book-smart and not necessarily street-smart, Dancer has an air of wisdom about him. A wisdom that can only be the result of surviving, and winning many battles. He will gladly share his wisdom with anypony willing to listen.

Backstory: Hailing from the wild realm that zebras call home, Dancer was born into a nomadic tribe. A fierce tribe that strictly follows an unwritten law, a code to live by. To break the code is to bring the ultimate dishonour upon you and your tribe, punishable by death or exile. If there are two words that could describe these tribes, they would be pride and honour. Young colts and fillies are taught how to fight and battle. The sword is no mere weapon, it is their entirety, their life and death. There is no honour in growing old and decrepit, these zebras fight amongst each other and wage war with other tribes, to kill or die with honour to the blade of one more worthy.<br /> <br />Dancer's tribe waged a war with a hostile tribe, hundreds of ponies were slain. Only a few survived, Dancer was one of those zebras. Those that survived were forced to scatter, there was no longer a tribe to follow. He wandered alone, until chancing upon the city of Canterlot. Initially met with mistrust and suspicion, Dancer defended his honour by always upholding his truth and by the bite of his sword.<br /> <br />When Dancer fought, there is no other word to describe it but a dance. Blades, spears and arrows seem to bend around his body as he twists and contorts his body in the most graceful harmony, that always ends in one pony dying. A suit of armour has never touched his body, that would only slow down Dancer. Neither has any enchanted or magical object. Using anything other than mere steel is cheating.<br /> <br />His sheer skill with a blade and unquestionable honour lead him to be quickly head hunted by the Royal Guard, despite his species. He now serves as a blade master, to teach the most promising apprentices at the Royal Guard. He is the only foreign zebra to have ever been recruited by the Royal Guard.