- the potions on her belt are gifts from her sister to help her with her work!
username; kii
pony name; eteri
gender; she/her
magick type; air
why do they desire the royal guard position, and what training have they gone through to prepare themselves?
eteri has always held a strong desire to not only protect, but help others. she started life late in the literacy department, and the very first books she read as a foal were stories about knights and princes protecting princesses in fairytale lands. eteri always longed to be in the knight's position; getting to see the world, and more importantly, always getting to protect those in need. this stance would further be proven as eteri's life experiences led her to really try to get to jump in and save someone; her best friend metamo, to be exact. and while she may have felt the sting of defeat that day (and the pain of a broken bone), that did nothing to quell the fire burning in eteri's chest to protect others. if anything, it only made it burn hotter. eteri knew in that moment that, you may lose one battle, but that does not mean you lose the war.
metamo, eteri's best friend, was raised to crave a position alongside royalty; to be a member of the royal guard. eteri heard this time and time again, not only from her friend, but from her parents, who hoped, secretly, she would go into the same field as her friend. it was fortuitous, then, that the winds of fate guided eteri's heart into longing this very same position.
eteri craves to protect others, and to serve a cause that sees to it that end is met. as a member of the royal guard, eteri hopes to serve not only the people she's protecting, and the king she's serving, but also her fellow members of the Guard. she knows the element Air quite well, and while it's trivial, eteri hopes that her incense and aromatherapy skills can soothe and calm her fellow guards, especially in the heat of battle where things could get potentially scary. she has her very own homemade battle blend for the occasion.
in all, while some people crave power, fame, or fortune, eteri hopes to serve, to guide, and to protect. she longs to walk the same path in life as her best friend metamo, and to stand by his side and share in his triumphs.
as for preparation, eteri has quite the solid grasp of her elemental magick. eteri has practiced offensive, defensive, and practical applications of her magick. offensive uses of her magick include giant gusts of wind to knock ponies off their feet and whipping wind hard enough to hurt. defensive applications include wind barriers and quick gusts under her own wings to get away. practical applications include her aromatherapy practice, as well as providing a gentle breeze through the manes of her potential fellow guards to provide a much-needed reprieve from the woes of the world.
in addition to this, eteri has also been studying paledon law extensively, with history to a lesser extent. eteri trained alongside metamo against the three opposing elements; earth, water, and fire, with the additional help from her friends throwing magickal attacks at them. eteri heavily agrees that the more you can acquaint yourself with other magicks, the more prepared you will be for the position.
finally, eteri's been training herself physically; and while she's not nearly as bulky as some of the other ponies, she's quite nimble, intelligent, and creative with her magick applications.
backstory
early life
for ease of understanding, i'm going to be using human years to describe the development of this young adult.
0-6 years
Eteri doesn't quite remember what her birth parents were like, as they did not spend much time with her when she was born. eteri was handed off to an orphanage, and was adopted by a young unicorn couple looking to start a family of their own. She was sure they were lovely people, probably, but she does know they willingly gave her up. This hasn't bothered the young Bat Pony. Even from a very young age, Eteri understood the concept of some ponies not being ready to be parents.
Growing up, Eteri was handed everything she could have wanted on, mostly, a platter. Any interest she saw fit to pursue was encouraged. She was quite sickly when she was younger, and spent much time inside while her siblings got to go out and play. However, Eteri had a particularly good relationship with her older sister, Althea. Althea was an aspiring healer and apothecary, and she was often by Eteri's side nursing her to health and keeping her company. Eteri cannot recall a single time she'd ever had a negative experience with her older sister.
She learned to read and write at a later age than most, something she's a bit self conscious about. It's quite hard to learn to be literate when you're spending most days bedridden and in a head fog after all. Still, once she had those skills, Eteri had a hunger for knowledge and literature unparalleled like any other. She read wonderful stories of Princes and Princesses and magical makebelieve lands where good always triumphed over evil and dark defeated light.
It was with this idealistic vacuum that Eteri approached her very first outing with. An optimistic attitude, and a belief the world only had good in it. That belief was shattered as she witnessed another Batpony like herself being bullied by a group of other ponies. Althea urged her not to intervene, but Eteri refused to watch this happen; someone had to save this helpless person, and that someone would be her if no one else.
Of course, a homebound Eteri getting the most exercise she'd gotten in all six years of her life wasn't that strong. She couldn't stand a chance to bullies, and she experienced her first broken bone as they tossed her aside like she was nothing. Even as she weakly tried to hiss and defend her friend, she could do little against the bullies. However, her newly discovered friend managed to chase off the bullies despite his own injuries, and the two got to properly introduce themselves to one another.
Fortunately, Eteri wasn't alone; she did have her older sister who, despite being terrible at combat, was a practicing apothecary. Althea was more than happy to provide a potion to the bleeding Metamo to help him feel better, and get his name so the two kiddos could meet again.
Despite having to be bedridden for at least six more months following the incident, even little Eteri didn't regret it. She stood up for someone else, and the fact she survived was proof that you could fall, and get back up again at the end of the day.
mid-young life
7-13
cw: mentions of death and being present for a grandparent's death.
as eteri grew older, she could no longer stay safe and sheltered in the comforts of ignorant youth. while her parents were naturally very supportive of every interest of hers, the fact of the matter was eteri lacked direction. they hoped that, by introducing her to other ponies, she'd surely find direction in her life. their prime pick was for her to spend time with metamo; his parent's clear direction for his life, they hoped, would inspire her.
it did not. at least, not this early on in her life.
they introduced her to the child of a family friend, one miss sophia vanderbilt. her parents were strict, demanding, and disciplined horses. while eteri's parents would never enforce the same strictness the vanderbilts instilled on their daughter; they hoped the mutual friendship would be good for both children.
eteri and sophia hit it off in rather strange ways. sophia was older and exploring topics that eteri hadn't hit yet; specifically, life and death and poetry. sophia was dabbling in who she was and what it meant to be a pony; eteri was still trying to figure out the basic four elements. still, sophia and eteri found common ground in a fascination with life, and death, and the relationships ponies have with one another.
against all odds, eteri and sophia became fast friends.
it was during one of these hangout sessions that eteri stumbled upon the concept of the four basic elements and what they meant. fire was fast, fierce, and intense. water was calm and soothing and mystical. earth was, sturdy, reliable, but vicious when needed. air, on the other hand, was whimsical. it's hard to define what air is, exactly, and yet, that's exactly why eteri liked it.
and by god, did she take to it quickly.
it's hard to tell if she took to it quickly, or had secretly had this talent at her disposal for years. air is a fickle element, after all. was it a breeze that helped her get to metamo faster to protect him, or her innate desire to have the wind in her wings to get her to him faster? is that perhaps the reason she took to flying so quickly, too? air is a hard element to study, and yet, eteri acquired it quickly. she devoured all tomes covering the subject, grasping the essentials she needed to understand this element further.
witnessing a death at a young age, however, was the proper catalyst for setting things in motion.
it was a peaceful death; she was there by her adoptive grandfather's side when he died. her and her parents and siblings were, actually. she watched as the last breath exited his body and, for a moment, she swore she could feel the air in the room change.
only a few days later would her older sister bear her first child.
"with the first breath of birth, and the last gasp of death, air flows through us all and defines at it's core what it means to be alive."
this line echoed through her mind, rattled through her heart and resonated deeply with her soul. it was like she suddenly understood on such a deeper level what air magick was; what it REALLY was.
she walked the halls of sophie's academy alongside her friend and watched the different mages practice their arcane arts, and it's like she could see the world in a whole new light. she could sense and see the air between ponies; she saw how air pushed and moved Water; how it fed into Fire, and how it gently soothed and stirred the otherwise unshakeable Earth.
with her newfound purpose in life, eteri was able to head into her teens prepared to tackle the world head-on.
the teenage years
14-18
due to her health problems from her youth, eteri maintained good self-care habits. unlike some of her peers, eteri kept a stable sleep schedule. despite her head being in the clouds, the one thing that grounded her was her friends; especially metamo, who continued to be her guiding light throughout most of her life.
the thought of becoming part of the royal guard was always just, a faraway dream for eteri. it was a high honor; one she was sure that others deserved far more than her. It's not that Eteri thought poorly of herself; she didn't. however, eteri was keenly aware of the position of privilege she held and, while she was certainly no Royalty, she wasn't exactly coming from nothing either. however, with her friend aiming high, she wanted to aim high with him. a life by her best friend's side, to her, was one of the best lives she could hope for.
the keen desire to protect others was as pervasive as it'd ever been. the stories she read of princes and princesses and knights protecting the weak continued to echo in her head, and while she certainly didn't consider herself the type to don metal armor and run headfirst into battle; she did want to protect, and she did know she was capable of it. eteri just had to train, first.
so, eteri hit the books, and more importantly, the bricks. she joined her good friend metamo on his personal training regime to not only become physically stronger, but prepare against all the elements. eteri recruited the help of sophie to train against water magick with metamo. fortunately, eteri's youthful health problems were disappearing with age, and the training she did with her best friend proved to be very advantageous in not only getting stronger, but understanding her own limits. eteri is not nearly physically bulky or strong as her friends, but what she lacks in brawn, she easily makes up for with her wit and nimble frame.
eteri developed her own style of combat, using her air magic to coast extra air currents underneath her wings to coast higher, glide slower, and always land where she needed to go. in more extreme cases, she's toyed around with the idea of using her air magic to steal the breath of life from others; should the truly dire need arise. she would never dream of using this magic against a paledon citizen; no, only the most morbidly dangerous foes would run the risk of such an attack being used, and that's if eteri truly felt like she might die if she didn't do it. air can be used to make bursts of temporary air walls, gaining distance between you and your enemy; or blocking them off, preventing them from escape.
many sleepless nights were spent hanging out with her besties, wondering if she'd make it, if they'd make it. if they were even worthy of such a position. the consensus was, try your hardest and aim for the moon; if you fail, the stars will catch you. who better to catch you than the stars of your life; your best friends?
in summary, the majority of her teenage years were spent taking care of herself, bettering herself, and preparing for a life of protecting others; whether that was through the royal guard, or something homemade between herself and her friends.
adulthood
19 years old, present.
eteri is currently honing the rest of her skills, refining them, and readying herself should she be chosen to work in the royal guard. such stressful work isn't her usual, however her friends keep her grounded. sophie remains a wonderful shoulder to cry on, and metamo remains her grounding force to remind her that she is more than capable of doing whatever she sets her heart on. she isn't floating aimlessly; she's the breath of life coursing through someone's lungs.
eteri lives on her own in a small home her parents purchased for her. she longed for independence, and they were more than happy to facilitate it. the home is in a wonderful position; it's a quick five minute flight to her bestie's house, or to her parent's house, or to her sister's home.
