Fixit

By Archi the Atmomancer

• December 22, 2012

Age: 31

Gender: Male

Species: Earth Pony

Appearance: Fixit has dark brown fur with slightly lighter eyes and a gunmetal grey mane cut to just above his ears. His tail is cut short also and is unstyled. He is of average height and average build; relatively generic for a pony.

Cutie Mark: Fixit's cutie mark is a pair of gears, representing, as you can imagine, his love of all things mechanical in nature. Fixit acquired his cutie mark in the cellar of his house at the age of 7, when he tinkered with one of his father's coal-powered thresher and managed to massively improve its speed and efficiency.

Personality: Fixit is a quiet and hard working pony. He tends to keep to himself and only really talks with those he considers friends without trying to make any more. However, he has a great affinity for machines and is visibly contented by being in the presence of complex contraptions of all designs.

Backstory: Fixit was born in the dusty farmlands of Appleloosa as an only child to his mother and father Plough Driver and Silver Sickle, who owned their own farm mostly dedicated to growing grain for the local mills. Despite their lack of money (mostly due to grain surpluses in a growing market) his parents spent much of their time devoted to raising their young colt to be a fine farmer and gentlecolt. <br /><br />After he reached the age of 4 Fixit's parents started him out in the fields, shovelling piles of wheat into threshers for shipping to Brothuf Mill. The job was very tiring, and despite his young age his parents were determined to push their son to his limits and teach him the meaning of hard work.<br />Fixit, not one to disappoint, once kept up a brisk pace for a week before passing out in the hot summer sun.<br /><br />After the colt awoke from his stupor he found himself in his bed with his mother at his side, mopping his brow with a wet cloth. <br />"Now listen here," she said to her son, smiling sadly "I want ya to get out there in the fields today, but don't push yerself too hard. Take a break or two every now and again, and you'll feel much better." Fixit nodded silently, and in a few more hours was back on his feet and working the thresher. However, his new breaks allowed him more leisure time, during which Fixit became increasingly interested in the workings of machines around the farm such as the thresher itself. By day he would investigate the thresher with his hooves, ignorant or perhaps just uncaring of any danger, and by night he would read about mechanisms and other contraptions outside of farming, such as the legendary Super Speedy Cider Squeezy, which was only hampered by its lax quality control, and the magically-enhanced steam engine of the Royal Canterlot Express.<br /><br />By the time he had grown as tall as the wheat he tended Fixit's parents had managed to hire three more hands on the farm, which led to Fixit requesting to operate the thresher and offering to accept all responsibility for its upkeep. After some thought his parents accepted, and he started his new role as engineer.<br /><br />For the next year Fixit would demonstrate exceptional aptitude with machines, but wouldn't finally get his cutie mark until he prised open the plates on his father's best thresher and adjusted the mechanism on the machine's cylinder. As he consulted a guide book on thresher maintenance, he strove for hours with spanner and screwdriver to make the thresher quicker and more efficient, and just as the sun began to set he presented his new and improved design to his father, along with his new twin-gear cutie mark on his flank.<br /><br />His father was amazed at his son's work, although also disappointed, as he knew this meant that eventually his son would move on to look for bigger projects that tested his skills rather than staying on the farm as he wished. But for now, Silver Sickle was content to raise his son to become the machinist he was so desperate to become.<br /><br />After this point Fixit began to spend more and more time with machines, constantly looking for new ways to improve the equipment on his family's farm. However, there was little mechanical equipment at home, so Fixit began to look further afield. He would accompany his parents on trips to the Brothuf Mill and study the mechanisms of the windmill and visit the other farms in town fortunate enough to own machines of their own in order to see if any repairs or improvements were needed. As he grew in experience, he eventually brought himself to seek a job at the Appleloosan train station. With references gathered from past customers Fixit was able to secure the job for himself.<br /><br />​For several years Fixit was a successful engineer on the train lines, aiding in both the construction and maintenance of trains. However, even though he was happy in the place he had found he wanted to get away from dusty old Appleloosa and find somewhere more interesting, somewhere where he could open a workshop of his own. This could feasibly be done in Appleloosa, but Fixit felt that staying in Appleloosa would tie him to his parents, and he longed for a fresh, independent new start; perhaps he also longed for a bit of unpredictability as opposed to the daily grind.<br /><br />So it came to pass that Fixit packed his bags, kissed his parents goodbye, and caught the next train to Ponyville.<br /><br />Fixit is relatively new to Ponyville, but he has managed to get together enough bits to buy simple accommodation and a small workshop where he can frequently be found building simple contraptions for himself and for the occasional customer. He is currently employed at Ponyville train station but is attempting to hone his skills with machinery further until he can build more complex machines for others to purchase.<br />