Skewer

By Anneal

• August 6, 2013

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Species: Pegasus

Appearance: Eye colour: Blue Gray (#6699CC)<br /><br />Coat: Desert Sand (#EDC9AF)<br /><br />Mane/Tail: Mint Leaf (#3EB489) His tail is short and wavy, and his mane parts toward his ears, somewhat disheveled.<br /><br />Physique: Average for a teenage colt. Not very muscular nor athletic.

Cutie Mark: A white pawn and a black bishop, crossing each other; his cutie mark implies that his talent is chess.

Personality: Skewer is talented in chess, though he claims himself that he could play different forms of chess play. He has a good memory, trained from keeping track of the pieces and moves in blindfold chess. (Because of this, he wears a headband to act as a blindfold if needed.)<br /><br />He only feels that his life would be complete if he does as much things as possible in life. Because of this, he does a lot of odd jobs around Cloudsdale, and joins large events that happen nearby. He also says how chess wasn't for the "intelligent", only for the willing to learn, and so he continues playing the game not only because he likes it, but for a second reason for proving his statement correct. His main goal was to obtain the rank of grand-master in chess, the highest professional rank in chess. Only the most extraordinary chess player ponies obtain such a rank. Although he has played chess for a long time, he's still far from becoming a grand-master. (He does claim to be an unofficial expert in chess, however.)<br /><br />He likes playing chess (of course), solving mathematical puzzles, and card games. (though he never gambles, he plays it just for entertainment) On the other hand, he hates loud distractions, impulsiveness, spicy foods, blundering (making serious mistakes) in chess, and hot weather. He also get uneasy when he loses pieces in chess.<br /><br />In his leisure time, he reads some chess strategies with the books he have. In fact, he has a whole bookshelf of topic involving previous chess games, openings, and tactics. When he's not doing that, he sometimes goes out for a short flight or "reading" the newspaper. In reality, Skewer is only reading the parts which contain the comics and puzzles.<br /><br />Skewer is somewhat good at persuading other ponies. He has decent social skills, and is determined to take risks; after all, you have to do it often in a chess game. He tries to work hard in order to do things more efficiently. He is condescending, however, and make other ponies feel inferior by acting as if he's the more knowledgeable one. He lacks empathy, and would continue his talking without noticing whether other ponies are listening or interested in his topic. Skewer sometimes worries on things that will take down his winning position and discourage himself, so he often can't hold his frustration when he loses what he earned so hardly.

Backstory: Skewer was born in the bustling city of Las Pegasus, though his family moved to Cloudsdale after when he was still a foal. His memory of that place was feeble, a small event in his foalhood. His name was a term in chess (where both the king and a piece are pinned, or the king is in check in front of that piece), which chess was mainly his talent.<br /><br />He grew up normally like other pegasi who lived in Cloudsdale, though as he grew older, he took an interest for something else. How this interest of the game of chess began took place when his family and he flew to Ponyville. Skewer grew curious as he saw two ponies play against each other on a game of chess. He soon tried to play the game with the ponies himself, only ending up losing badly on every game.<br /><br />As he returned to Cloudsdale, he had so many questions about the game unexplained. Although he wasn't very fond of reading books, Skewer tried to borrow or buy books relating about chess so he could learn more about the basics himself, and some other moves such as castling or en passant. He even went to attend chess lessons from a mentor just to learn more about the tactics and strategies, the aggressive moves or trap that lay behind the chess board. His parents sometimes even jokes on how Skewer knew more about the game than his school studies.<br /><br />The day where Skewer got his cutie mark was a completely unexpected one. Skewer, when he was a much younger colt, decided to join a chess tournament after being more experienced with the game of chess. He had great faith and confidence that he would win, and he entered the tournament in that way. Never did he knew that he would gain his cutie mark in this way.<br /><br />Skewer played through the chess tournament with a total of 8.5 points after the round robin rotation. His final match in the tournament, however, was also the hardest. He played with his opponent- a unicorn filly, actually- all the way to the end-game. It was a match that could have went either way. Unfortunately, Skewer was the one who resigned from the game when it was obvious that a loss for him was inevitable.<br /><br />Skewer was disappointed by the fact that he wasn't going to be first place, until there was a sudden flash, and on his flank appeared a cutie mark of two chess pieces. Skewer, in a minute, then realized that the true meaning behind the game of chess was not at all about winning. From every chess game, he knew that he was learning something new, something unknown. Actually, he "won" the game already; his cutie mark proved that he was worthy of being a chess player.<br /><br />Now, Skewer is much older, and he still enjoys the game of chess, though he is now a much more experienced player thanks to a great deal of tutoring and learning. He participates in chess tournaments nowadays.