Birthday Bios: Steel Wool · 5:43pm Sep 3rd, 2016
It's kind of funny. Usually I have problems with fanfoals that are made to be the exact opposite of their parents (I also dislike fanfoals that are exactly like their parents, but that's for another time), but then I go and make a CocoShill daughter that you could pretty much say is the opposite of the soft-spoken Coco Pommel and the nervous Silver Shill. I guess I go with whatever personality might be fun.
I've had the name 'Steel Wool' as an option for a CocoShill kid should I ever get around to it (referring to Silver's family's metal theme and Coco's sewing thing). I didn't know that she'd end up being a rocker until, like, a month ago (you can see her first picture in my pre-Zion art dump)... so, that's why I didn't name her 'Heavy Metal' or something like that (I'm totally going to consider it her r63 name, though).
Anyway....
Long before she was born, Coco Pommel and Silver Shill had been having long distance relationship after Silver's sisters (and family friend Silk Shimmer) meddled a bit to get them to reunite after their last encounter as foals. After a while, Silver decided to leave Halterside's Pirate Pizzeria in the hooves of some trusted employees, and moved to Manehattan to marry Coco and help her manage Rarity for You. And soon enough, their daughter Steel Wool was born.
Little 'Woolie', as everyone called her, was an active and happy baby, though she tended to be loud. She tended to get into stuff while her parents were working, and sometimes snuck into her mother's workroom to wreak havoc there (often stopped by puncture wounds from stray needles, which hurt enough for her to bawl). Her dad was usually better at stopping her mischief (given his experience with a younger sister and his oldest sister Penny's kids), and could come up with some pretty nifty distractions for her.
One of her favorite pastimes was pulling out the dishes and drumming on them, yammering out a silly song in the process. It went on for a few years before her parents had enough and got her a little tambourine to play with. A few birthdays and Hearth's Warmings later, she was given more toy instruments because she was fascinated with all the different sounds they made. She especially enjoyed strumming on her little ukulele, trying to sing a song all the while (for what it was worth, she was a better singer than either of her parents).
For her first day of school, she was all dressed up in a cute outfit her mother made, and had her two-toned dark teal mane done in a bob. At the end of the day, she was a mess, because she played a little too roughly for that outfit to handle. She even got in trouble with the teacher for playful roughhousing and throwing mudballs at her classmates, even though all the foals thought it was fun. She had to be told by her parents not to be too rough in playing with her new friends.
Arts and crafts were fun for her to do. Typically, her art consisted of cardboard instruments (to play band with some friends), drawings of made-up superheroes inspired by her dad's comic collection, and even drawing dresses on stick figures. As much as she disliked wearing the type of clothes that her mother and her friend Rarity made, she had to admit it was kind of fun designing them. She even learned how to sew so that she could patch up whatever in the apartment was ripped, try to cover any accidents involving one of the dresses Rarity sent to the store, or even make something of her own, like the vest that she wears in adulthood.
From time to time, she'd visit her aunt Penny in another part of town and hang out with her cousins Noble Metal (male), Cobalt Blue (female), and Bronze Medallion (male). For some time, when seeing those three together, she had wished that she wasn't an only foal--she found it kind of lonely. However, that would change soon enough.
She was eight when her surprise brother, Argent Luster, was born. She took to entertaining the happy little colt with her various instruments, and they ended up forming a band, consisting of Woolie on the ukulele, and Argent on the pots and pans. Neighbors complained about the noise, and eventually, so did random passersby on the street when the kids took to doing it on the apartment building's roof.
She entered a talent show at school, hoping to do a one-pony band. She failed hilariously at it, resulting in some pretty harsh teasing from some of the meaner foals--one of which she punched in the face. Hard. She was so embarrassed from her flop that she refused to compete in any school competition until she was eleven, after taking guitar lessons from the only neighbor who wasn't annoyed with her noise. That time, she stuck to rocking out on the newer guitar she got, and was greeted with the sound of applause. The pride she felt that day was only amplified when she earned her cutie mark.
She developed a bit of the classic teenage attitude as she grew older, and she took a major liking to rock. Of course, she wasn't allowed to play music in the apartment, considering all the neighbors that they've driven crazy, and her parents didn't want to be kicked out, so she took to going with friends to play in a warehouse. Of course, for a time, that was the only thing she wanted to do, and neglected school as a result. After her parents tried to reason with her in vain, her dad decided to pull out a card he didn't want to have to do--he essentially deprived Woolie of all her music and instruments, having his sister Comedy Gold store them in her "secret compartment".
Woolie: Secret compartment? What the hay is that?
Silver: It's a party pony thing, just roll with it.
She was pretty angry with him for grounding her like that, and wouldn't speak to him for some time. However, she eventually complied and got her grades up, and even found a new hobby of woodworking, which she used to make her brother a birthday present. After a few months, she got her instruments back, and she alternated between her various hobbies of music, woodworking, and sewing with her mother.
While she aspires to get into the music business, she's having a bit of trouble doing so. For the time being, until she can finally get her big break, she works with a carpenter in the city part-time, and also assists her parents and their co-workers in Rarity For You from time to time. She's working towards getting her own place, since she doesn't want to burden her parents for long.
She has made herself an acoustic guitar to practice any songs she comes up with in her free time, and is willing to let her brother join her when she's playing alone. On some nights, she performs with her similarly musical friends on her magic-electric guitar, showing off her endless energy, much to the audience's pleasure.
Those times where she can perform for others are her favorite times in the world, as that's when she feels the most alive.
Ah, the delicate balance of art and work, passion and necessity. Not easy to make it work, but deeply necessary.
So, does this mean that CocoShill is definitely something that will happen in your Equestria?