Shards Of Sombra: Aquamarine · 8:13pm Nov 5th, 2021
[Artwork by the phenomenal Magfen]
[ AQUAMARINE ]
Berserker. The moment the title was mentioned to Obsidian by Amethyst, it was obvious he wouldn't be easy to deal with. Aquamarine was ejected from the Crystal Empire before its thousand-year disappearance, and was eventually revived in a brand new world he didn't understand. He eventually survived long enough to reach old age, managing to keep others away with the legend of the 'Clearwater Ghost'. But when Obsidian and company came to find him, they got QUITE a demonstration of his battle prowess... until Siddy managed to reach his heart with a reminder of what he loved. He then surrendered (much to the relief of Lemon Custard), and was brought to Ponyville to begin his reintegration into society.
Unfortunately, Amber had other plans. Now, his last known whereabouts were with his other ousted siblings, their current fate unknown as of this blog. However, from all that was shown, Aqua has a rather curmudgeonly personality to match his looks... and his mind is apparently just as sharp as it was the day he was exiled. Even in his twilight years, Aqua still has strength and skill to spare, and though he may be rough from all his years of being alone, he still seems to see merit in his siblings working together, and may prove helpful in the future. IF, of course, they can put up with his crankiness for long enough.
[STORY NOTES]
At first, Aqua was a case of 'what do I do with this guy' from the very first day I saw his picture with the others, on Diamond's Drawing. I had wanted 'Lucky 13' as the number of Shards, but I was clueless when it came to him. He looked a lot like a soldier, so I'd generalized him into that category... but then, I thought about it. Peridot was already removed from the family by his death - but were there other ways someone could be ostracized? Indeed there were, and when I considered the idea of it, I also brainstormed the idea of him being outside of the Empire when it went bye-bye... which, little by little, coalesced into the thought of him being OLD, after so many years alone. I'd say it worked out well, don't you?
Explaining his age: When he was cast out of the Empire (literally, like - thrown out of the window in shard form), he ended up sitting in the snow for centuries; I haven't decided if he was conscious or not, but I'm going with 'not' for the time being. What ended up releasing him was none other than Rainbow Dash's FIRST Sonic Rainboom - the one that brought the rest of the Mane Six into their own. It was powerful enough to free Aquamarine from his shard prison... and imagine his surprise to see the Empire itself GONE. So, he moved along until he found Clearwater - a small town that didn't seem as if it was growing quickly anytime soon, and settled in.
Hope Heartfire: I'd wanted something bittersweet when it came to her, and I'd already had a plan to have the 'old couple loses their daughter' storyline go into the tale. Setting it up to be Aqua DID take a bit of doing in my head, but once I had the plan, I didn't stop until it had gone all the way through. I purposely spent a whole chapter ('Senior Moments') building up the story of a missing daughter who was travelling the world... just so I could make it the reason for Aqua's building a funeral pyre, which brought Lemon... and, ultimately, Obsidian and the others.
Once back among the rest, I did my utmost best to portray him as someone who had ALREADY been through a large chunk of Life, and was basically set and settled with who they were. But once around the other sibs, I made sure to give Aqua a bit of snark; chances were, he was probably the 'blowhard' of the group, and just because he's older now does NOT mean he feels a need to go easy on others.
Aqua's CM was fairly easy - once Mags and I considered the idea of STRENGTH, it was natural to me for it to be represented by a breaking chain - a cue I took, believe it or not, from a specific character in Fallout: Equestria - Project Horizons... which happens to be one of my favorite pony tales of all time (for personal reasons). Chains being busted always look kinda badass, so I simply figured it would work out well... and I think it did.
When I write for Aqua, I try to make it a bit of a swing between dour old geezer and spry, snarky grandpa; one minute, he's telling you to shove off... and the next, he's challenging you to a hoof-wrestling contest. That's the duality in him of 'who I am/who I was', which is mostly evident due to the idea that, age notwithstanding, Aqua's sharp wit is now getting the chance to manifest again after being pretty much by himself for a long damned time. To the Shards, he was young and virile the last time they saw him... and they all look more or less exactly the same as they once did. He might be subconsciously reverting to form at times because his psyche sees the other shards and wants to group his own age in with theirs.
Originally, he was just going to be the big, bad berserker that possibly might have KILLED Lemon and his team... however, as I didn't need the fallout of Cupcake being driven crazy from it, nor would it have ended well for him. Plus, by the time I got to him, I already had the idea in mind for them all to gather together to deal with Amber - so instead of actually killing anyone, I toned it back to shattering Hard Looker like a glass tea tray & 'turning Mica's hoof into jelly', as Wungi put it in the original story... both of which were healed by the ever-lovable Diamond.
[Factoids]
Whenever I think about a song that fits for Aquamarine, the first and foremost tune that starts playing instantly is Walk by Pantera. It speaks of telling someone to 'walk on home' because they're being a pest, a nuisance, a dick... and the singer's scorn and rage are evident in each syllable. THAT is the sort of rage I feel behind Aqua's eyes - seeing a world full of Life, and just wanting to be left alone by the jackoffs.
Aqua didn't exactly age very well - and I did my best to ensure the differences were as night and day. The young Aqua had almost a crewcut, and always did his best to make certain his appearance was polished and razor-clean; in his old age, he got to the point he simply shrugged his shoulders and stopped doing all of that - who was gonna talk to a ghost, right? But between BOTH versions, his eyes stayed exactly the same.
Having Aqua smart off to his siblings, whether Tourmy or Quartz or whoever else... except maybe Diamond... was always fun for me. Plus, sneaking in one or two reminders of his age (or digs at him from his siblings) helped me keep the idea of HIS perspective in mind as I wrote his dialogue.
The inspiration for such a character as Aquamarine comes from a chunk of Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop, a portion of Reinhardt from Overwatch (because the old man's got style), a spoonful of Empire Strikes Back Yoda - the goofy one Luke first met - and just a pinch of Kup from the original animated Transformers movie from the 80's.
{SPOILER}
Each one of these files will get a spoiler for the upcoming, unpublished story; read at your own risk.
Aquamarine ends up not only meeting a certain someone who gives him a fine workout, but his berserker fury comes in handy later; the poor Umbrals hardly stand a chance.
Loving his dreds. Being of Norwegian heritage, I respect any who carry the curse of the Berzerkerganger as I do.
I picture him sounding like Kratos from the newer God of War games; that deep, rumbling voice with power behind it.