User:Guildmaster Grovyle/Golden Age

Golden Age is a female unicorn pony and a faux supporting character in My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. She is a mariner who is contracted by the elite of Canterlot to salvage sunken treasure from the depths of the oceans surrounding Equestria. She first appears in The One That Got Away as the captain whom Twilight Sparkle hires to help her find an escaped sea cockatrice.

Development and design
Grovyle was inspired to create Golden Age shortly after observing how invariably low ponies' manes tend to droop when exposed to any volume of water. Her design was originally based upon Princess Celestia's, but Grovyle soon began to feel that her beauty surpassed even the royal sisters'. Thus Golden Age was given a life of her own and a cutie mark to boot.

Cutie mark
Daughter of the famous actor and wedding crasher Dark Moon, Golden Age earned her cutie mark at a young age. She claims that it first manifested when she bashed a colt on the head with her uncle's antique spyglass, but her cousin Jet Set, who claims to have been that colt, insists that she received it on the following day when she helped him find a rare coin as an apology. Pinkie Pie suggests that neither is telling the full truth, but she offers little knowledge thereupon.

Modeling
Upon reaching maturity, Golden Age's good looks became the stuff of lunchtime discussions and idle chats. Seeing her potential, Dark Moon convinced her to go into show business. She only ever secured a minor role in Roomy Tableau's universally ridiculed The Barn, which spelled the end for her stint as an actress. However, a young Photo Finish took notice of the unemployed mare and thrust her into the world of fashion, where she formed a brief partnership with Fleur Dis Lee, who would later become the priciest model in Equestria. For approximately one year, fashionistas across Equestria could talk of little besides the perfect pairing of Golden Age and Fleur. Yet despite Photo Finish's creativity and Dark Moon's waxing pride, Golden Age did not feel at peace on the runway. She eventually decided that a vacation or a cruise would help clear her mind.

Golden Age boarded the luxury liner Larson at Baltimare with a saddlebag and an excess of bits. There, she became closely acquainted with the onboard masseur whom she visited daily for bodily comfort and peace of mind. During her massages, she had someone to talk to without worry. All was well until the Larson began its return to the mainland. Out of the abyss came a kraken which assailed the ship and anchored itself to it. The kraken then returned to the depths with its prey, leaving only a few ponies above the surface. Luckily for her, Golden Age was on the aft deck when the kraken arose.

Golden Age desperately tried to swim back to Equestria, but her efforts were in vain; land was nowhere in sight. As night fell, Golden Age reached the conclusion that her life was at its end. She resigned herself to her fate, zoned out, and lost all recollection of what transpired thereafter. An indefinite amount of time later, a griffon shrimping boat rescued the sodden, half-frozen mare. The griffons kindly administered to her needs and did what they could for her health. They altered their plans and set course for Manehattan, where they would be able to leave Golden Age in the care of a professional doctor of medicine.

Career change
During her recovery, Golden Age found herself unable to think of modeling or her friends. The sea haunted her thoughts. She felt that the infinite depths and their infinite terrors somehow called to her. No pony belonged in that kind of environment, yet she convinced herself that the kraken had to have been maintaining that restriction. The sea monster had to be guarding something sacrosanct. Otherwise, ponies would freely live in the ocean, or so she believed. When she was released from the hospital, Golden Age sought Photo Finish and begged her to teach her a spell that would let her explore the sea. Photo Finish initially scoffed at the idea, but Golden Age was persistent. When the topic of mermares was finally brought up, Photo agreed to help her associate. After all, mermares were exotic and thus good material for photo shoots. Over the course of a year of intense study, Golden Age learned to conjure gills and tail fins.

When her new trick was finally revealed to the public eye, Golden Age became the talk of the town once again, especially in the capricious aristocratic circles. One particular pony, the peerless Fancy Pants, took interest in this phenomenon and proposed a challenge for the sake of sport. He had a chest placed on the ocean floor near Baltimare and dared Golden Age to retrieve it with one million bits ready if she should succeed. In a surprising display, Golden Age completed the task in less than two hours, cementing her reputation among the elite. Thereafter, all of Canterlot demanded that she take up diving as a career. Nobles opened their encyclopedias and greedily read up on lost treasures from their families' pasts. The stage was set for Golden Age to dump modeling.

Treasure hunting
Due to the resultant hype, Golden Age is now a full-time treasure hunter for the elite. She has captained ships of all varieties under the ownership of the nobility, and although she knows little about actual nautical matters, she has proven a reasonably competent leader during her expeditions. The nobles, unsatisfied with aquatic loot, continue to demand greater and greater finds, including artifacts from the Everfree Forest. Golden Age herself realizes that her reputation has become overinflated, but her ego denies her the will to openly acknowledge her error and quit. Recently, she has earned the contempt of Dr. Caballeron, who sees her as an upstart and a bimbo to exploit, and the seaponies, who resent that she takes gold from their seas.

Season umpteen
Golden Age first appears in Canterlot in the episode The One That Got Away when Twilight Sparkle and her friends are searching for a captain to help them find Fluttershy's runaway sea cockatrice. Fancy Pants recommends that they visit the Aquarium, a secret club in the old town, where an old acquaintance of his is said to lurk. There they find Golden Age telling a fish story to an uninterested bartender. They approach her, and she introduces herself as "the fairest pony to ever sail." Twilight explains the problem of the escaped creature to Golden Age, who agrees to aid them on the condition that they pay her in diamonds with a fifty percent down payment.

The seven friends later meet Golden Age at Vanhoover once they have determined the direction of their quarry's flight. Golden Age rents a vessel and buys a dose of poison joke, believing that the plant's magical powers will temporarily turn the beast to stone and allow the unicorns to lift it to the surface. When Fluttershy observes the unusual behavior of the dolphins in one region, Golden Age reasons that the sea cockatrice must be near, dives overboard, and casts her "mermare spell." However, she returns shortly afterward with her resolve shaken. The expedition then stagnates because she is unwilling to dive again.

After being interrogated by Twilight on the following day and suffering a stain from Spike's ink, Golden Age storms off to her cabin and leaves the six ponies and the dragon to themselves. When Twilight attempts to part the water around the ship and peer into the depths, she finds a number of seaponies below. The seaponies reveal their spite for the "thief" and refuse to surrender the sea cockatrice until she is brought to justice. Golden Age begs Twilight not to hand her over to the seaponies over "a simple misunderstanding," but Twilight continues to question the mare. Golden Age then gives up on her exorbitant price and tosses the diamonds into the water, returning some treasure to the sea's denizens.

Twilight and the others are surprised that Golden Age is willing to sacrifice such a prize in a desperate attempt to earn their trust. The seaponies, too, are moved by the gesture. They release the sea cockatrice to Flutterhy's delight. Golden Age is then shocked when Twilight reveals that she never had any intention of surrendering her to the seaponies. When they return to shore, Golden Age immediately hails a taxi and leaves without a word. Twilight Sparkle then comments that Golden Age may have learned something about atonement without realizing it.

Narcissism and sensitivity
Golden Age obsesses over her own appearance and furiously rebukes those who find her looks anything short of captivating. She dislikes her transformation aesthetically, since she feels that the fishy tail detracts from her figure; however, she delights in praise regardless of her form. Golden Age is also unable to take much criticism, and she snaps when patronized or belittled. Few ponies find it easy to stay on her good side, but those who do observe that she can be just as amiable as any other mare when among friends. Additionally, Golden Age displays varying degrees of emotional imbalance and fragility. She tends to become upset over the slightest misdeeds; for example, she nearly sheds tears when Spike accidentally spills ink on her coat.

Thalassomania
Golden Age's obsession with the sea affects her every thought, sometimes in mysterious ways. When any deep volume of water is in sight, she finds it difficult to make eye contact with other ponies. She is disinclined to speak to ponies who have little respect for the sea, and she enjoys rambling about its beauty. Furthermore, she often speaks of sea monsters with a sense of awe. She admits that she is terrified by the possibility of incurring a monster's wrath (especially since some are said to hoard gold) and grows touchy when this fear is discussed at length. The wreck of the Larson continues to weigh on her spirit, though she seldom acknowledges the ship's former existence.

Loyalty
Golden Age places a great deal of trust in those who offer her help when she needs it, such as the griffons who once saved her from freezing. Those who stand up for her usually find that she is willing to stand up for them in kind.

Role-play stats
N.B. All stats are relative to those of an average unicorn royal guard (three points in all categories). Most Pegasi possess above-average agility and inferior values in magic. Most earth ponies possess above-average strength and insignificant values in magic.
 * Strength - ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ (weak)
 * Intellect - ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ (average IQ)
 * Agility - ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ (average speed)
 * Magic - ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (gifted)
 * Charisma - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (enchanting)
 * Health - ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ (pushover)

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