Golden Sands



Pre-RP History
Golden was the only child of a high-strung family of library workers in Canterlot. He lived a secluded, but healthy and happy life before the events of ''SoundOf. ''His parents didn't believe in public education, and so Golden was privately tutored at home through the sources of literature found in the library, and his parent's wealthy knowledge. By the time he was 11, he was already more academically capable than the average teenager, and had begun showing skills in mechanics, much to his parent's approval. They'd set out projects for the young technician, and use it as a vital tool in teaching their son how the world worked and all the knowledge he'd need to run the library once they had gone. They weren't happy for long, though.

The day Golden got his cutie mark was when it all changed. He was 17 at the time, working on another of his projects while reading the novel War & Peace in the living quarters of his house. The room's centerpiece was a grandfather clock, one Goldy had grown up listening to. It's ancient ticks had been a soothing noise to him for years as he read, and he had grown to love the complexity of the machine for such a simple purpose. That day was when the ticking stopped. Golden, confused and somewhat upset that the ancient being had died, decided against telling his parents and instead grabbed his tools. When they returned, they found the clock in shining glory, working perfectly and good-as-new. What surprised them more was the teenage colt standing before them, beaming, with a cutiemark. Two cogs, interlocked. He'd found his purpose. His passion. And it was all he wanted to do from then on.

This wasn't what his parents had planned, and as he drifted away from the work of the library, so did they drift away from him. Their relationship with their son was destroyed, leading the a vast gap between the three. Golden couldn't take much more of the intravenous awkward silences and arguments, and so set about saving money. For his 20th birthday, he bought himself a rustic, derelict flora shop and moved out of his parent's home, renovating the place and creating Canterclock, his pride and joy store.

Advertising the impossible
Upon creating his store, Golden toiled away, creating hundreds and hundreds of clockwork machines and contraptions, from timepieces to toasters, weaponry to Drinking Bird toys. He put his heart and soul into making his business the very best, and he soon rose above the competition to be one of the leading clockwork producers in Canterlot. He created a bold advertisement campaign, claiming that he could "Make anything a customer could name". This was a big success, and lead to him making his first friends, and encountering a red mare by the name of Willow Wisp. Willow was Golden's fears personified. She was loud, nosey, rude, violent, and anything but normal. But something about her intrigued him, and they soon became friends.

This advertisement, however, was not met well all round. His main rival, a stallion known as Guilty Gear, took offense to the outrageous claims the colt made, and, unable to compete with his own, mediocre produce, began to  make plans against Golden.

Kill or be killed
Guilty began crushing all other companies in his path, using his wealth to bribe the companies sources for materials and, on some occasions, customers themselves, until one-by-one, they were wiped off the market and Guilty rose in rank. It got to the point where only Golden was left, and he knew of Guilty's dirty tricks. He knew he couldn't take Guilty on with such tactics, and so he decided to act before his rival could.

Fortune came in the name of Nikolai, a mysterious griffon who entered Golden's store in search of a more dark project. Goldy had spent hours upon hours perfecting new mechanical contraptions, and he'd dabbled in making clockwork weaponry on the side. Such projects excited the golden colt, and his backroom was filled with illegal firearms and weaponry that he had crafted. Nikolai needed his rifle fixed, and a weapon created for a love interest. Goldy gladly obliged, for a high price, of course, but gave the griffon an offer. Stop Guilty's actions, and any more orders from the creature would be completely free. Unable to refuse to such a deal, Nik accepted, and set off in search of Guilty.

It would be a while till Golden heard from Nikolai again, so he busied himself with his orders, and spending time with his new friend Willow. After hanging out for a short time, Willow invited the shy stallion over to the Royal Castle, somewhere Golden had always dreamed of going. The two departed, and Goldy met Celestia for the first time. The two became good friends, and often engaged in philosophical debates on the source and nature of the flow of time itself. Golden gained a massive respect for Celestia, and vowed to himself to always stand by the side of the Princess.

News came to Golden weeks later that Guilty had been killed by two assassins, a griffon and a grey mare. A result was a result, and he returned to business, free of worry that his store would be ruined by the dark stallion.

Rendez-vous
However, after Nikolai left with his weaponry, Golden grew curious. Just what were these monstrous weapons he was creating capable of? What could he make with such technology and knowledge? A hobby became an obsession. An obsession became a passion. Before he knew it, he'd created thousands of pistols, rifles, swords, flip-knives, armour, anything he could manage, and was planning a machine for himself that he loved. It was then that he learnt the destruction and death that the machines and inventions created, and Golden was horrified. What if these got into the wrong hooves? He had to act fast.

Goldy, through the help of his friend Butterscotch, and Nikolai, arranged a secret, anonymous rendez-vous with Celestia, and offered his services and weaponry to the royal mare. Upon showing her his contraptions, she was fascinated, and hired the stallion to be the royal weapon producer. Gifting the stallion with his own lab in the castle, Golden set to work arming the royal army with his weaponry, creating turrets and so forth for the castle's defences. It was then that Golden met Flare.

Flare was everything Golden had ever wanted in a stallion. He was calm, cool, muscular, and friendly, and, most of all, understanding and patient. Golden gained a crush for the stallion, but was devastated by the news that he was straight. The two settled for best friends, and Goldy continues to admire him from this day on.

Love Actually
Golden created his pièce de résistance, a clockwork dragon-claw which he dubbed Cleopatra, during this time. His closest friend and companion, the stallion goes everywhere with the machine, and treats it how a normal stallion would treat his wife. On one of his ventures into a castle, he met a mare by the name of Inkalina, and the two grew close with each hour spent together. Inkie found his work fascinating, and Golden loved the mare's intellegence for her age. He slowly developed feelings for the mare, and it all came to a head when Inkie walked in on Willow comforting a crying Golden, and taking it the wrong way. Golden sent Inkie a note, revealing his true feelings for the mare, and after an intense and awkward session of stuttering between the two, they decided to begin dating. Inkie had been betrayed by her ex, Aclahayr, and was relying on Goldy to fix her issues.

It wasn't to last, though. Aclahayr came back with a vengence, and Inkie became entwined, along with Golden, in a love triangle, with both stallions fighting for her heart. Golden, lacking confidence and weak from constant bullying from the guards for his lack of experience fighting, caved and broke down in front of Flare, who spurred the stallion on and told him not to give up.



Knee Deep
<p style="text-align:center;">Golden's efforts to win over Inkie were eventually successful, but not by his own actions. Aclahayr worsened, forcing himself upon Inkie, to her disdain. Eventually, she forced him away, and she committed herself to Golden, much to his delight. The two entered a stable relationship, and Aclahayr was pushed out of their world.

<p style="text-align:center;">Around a month or so later, Shining Armor paid Golden a visit out of good will. The two bonded, and quickly grew incredibly close. Golden helped Shining whenever he could, providing him with weaponry and support whenever the stallion needed it most; a rare thing for Shining to recieve. As they continued to bond, Shining's leg began to give way, damage from years and years of non-stop action finally taking it's toll. It was soon revealed that, if the leg were not to be operated on, the constant pain and disability it brought on occassion would only grow. But Armor knew that surgery would put him out of action, perhaps even permanently. So he turned to Golden, having heard of the stallion's ability to build prosthetic limbs (He'd supplied Varg's sister with prosthetic forelegs). Goldy reluctantly agreed to help.

<p style="text-align:center;">The process wasn't pretty. With the help of Princess Luna and Discord, Golden carried out the grim task of removing and replacing Shining's leg, a sight that still haunts his dreams to this day. However, the replacement was a success. With Discord's.. Help, Shining's limb was given new life, and the stallion grew closer to Golden than he had most others.

An Eye For Science
<p style="text-align:center;">Golden's ability to experiment was often reckless. He never took notice of safety, instead merely pushing the danger aside, to ensure his scientific method was not influenced or changed by fear and miscalculation. But it cost him dearly. One fateful day, Golden and Shining decided to go about a little experiment of their own. Golden fired a bullet into Shining's magical shield, and Shining held the bullet in a defensive-magic bubble. That wasn't a great idea. The bullet overheated from the friction between itself and the magical barriers, leading to it exploding. Shining took shrapnel to the chest, but he was lucky. A scream confirmed that Golden too had been hit. But it was  his left eye what took the metal shard. Bleeding and crying out in pain, Golden was escorted by Shiny to the infirmary, and was soon put under by Thunderlane for surgery. When he awoke, he found he could only open his right eye.

<p style="text-align:center;">The left had been severely damaged, and had to be totally removed. Golden's eyelid was permanently sewed shut, and he'd be forced to wear a eyepatch until they found a way to replace the eye. Inkie was mortified, and she lashed out at Goldy for his lack of safety in the lab. Golden was stirred deeply by the outlash, hurt by how stupid even he could be. With Shining and Celestia also pushing him, he implemented safety measures to ensure such a horrific incident never happened again. But he knew it wouldn't bring back the missing eye.

<h2 class="MsoNormal">Personality

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;"> Golden is a weak, shy and timid stallion who's lack of experience in the social world often shows. He stutters when with strangers, and shys away from activities with friends. However, once you pull him out of his shell, Golden is a kind, caring, and intellegent stallion who does his best to help those in need whenever he can. He's a two-sided coin at times, fragile and tim id when talking about anything other than work. But when his contraptions and work come into the light, he grows in confidence, often dissolving into complicated rants about his machines, much to his friend's dismay. He's weak from bullying, however, and any kind of off-hand joke or comment hits him like a truck.

<h2 class="MsoNormal">Important Relationships Flare - Golden's first crush, and best friend. Goldy and Flare get on extremely well, with Flare supporting Goldy, and vice versa. The two are often seen together, discussing current events and helping each other with pressing issues. Golden wishes he could be more to Flare, but has put all that aside in recent times.

Inkie - Golden's marefriend, apparently. She and Golden are closer than anyone else, and the two's nervous, shy natures resulted in love. He admires her beyond reason, and has stated many times that he would give up everything just to make her happy.

Willow - Golden is scared of Willow. Very scared. He sees her as a close friend, but her irrational actions and way of life scares and confuses Golden. Despite this, he tries his best to get on with the mare, seeking help from her when he needs it the most.

Celestia - Golden and Celestia are extremely close, to the point he sees her almost like a lovable Auntie. She's there to comfort and care for him whenever he needs it, and she knows more about temporal philosophy than he could ever imagine. He holds the Princess with high opinion, cherishing her every word and taking each piece of advise she gives as soon as possible.

Cleopatra Mark II - Golden is the only character in SoundOf capable of using Cleo to any true effect. He cherishes the machine, and it's often rumoured that he loves her more than Inkie or Flare. However, he denies such claims, seeing Cleo as a mechanical sister more than anything.

Gallery
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<h2 class="MsoNormal">Other Notes - Golden Sands is the primary OC of @ShadowLissy, based off of the writer's passions and dreams, and shy side.

- Golden was originally going to be called Chronos, but the name was scrapped

- Cleo Mk. II is based off of the weapon weilded by the champion Viktor from League of Legends.

- Golden has a major dragon obsession.