Roleplay OC: Summer Sunset

[SummerSunset]

-General Information-



Name: Summer Sunset (no relation to Sunset Shimmer)
Nickname/Alias(es): None yet!
Race: Pegasus Pony
Gender: Female
Age: Mare / Young Adult
Additional Status: Summer Sunset does not currently have a pet. She has a pair of fancy sunglasses she bought in Canterlot for some occasions. When wearing dresses, they are themed by the sun and include the colors yellow, orange, and red.


-Physical Information-



Pelt Color: Yellow-Orange
Mane/Tail Color and Style: Summer Sunset's mane and tail is a sunset orange. Her mane is mostly tucked behind her neck, flows out a little from the sides, and is cut fairly short in the front. Her tail is long and simply styled as to not get in the way. Overall, it's practical but decent-looking.
Eye Color: Sky Blue
Cutie Mark: An orange sun surrounded by yellow, orange, and red rays
Other Scars/Markings: None
Physique: Summer Sunset's body type is extraordinarily ordinary. She is in the shape of just about everypony. She is just a little bit thinner and a little bit more fragile. Her flight ability is fairly competent for a weather pony.


-Social Information-



Current Residence: The top of a tower in Cloudsdale
Job: Weather Pony/Sunset Patrol - She helps bring out the colors during sunset, including yellow, orange, and red. This is done much the same way as ponies bring out rainbows.
Mother:  Currently Unnamed
Father: Currently Unnamed
Sibling(s): Summer Sunset's younger sister is a filly named Spring Sunrise. Spring Sunrise hopes to join in the family profession, but has yet to mirror her older sister's dutifulness. This causes some conflict between the two, however it is very small next to their shared love.
Other Family: Summer Sunset's is small and not terribly diverse. All have a name somehow related to the sun and many have jobs in the weather industry. Her younger sister is a filly named Spring Sunrise. Spring Sunrise hopes to join in the family profession, but has yet to mirror her older sister's dutifulness. This causes some conflict between the two, however it is very small next to their shared love.
Closest Friends: Many fillies from childhood, but always looking for more!
Courting/Courted By: Single!
Mate: None
Foal(s): None


-Personality Information-



Likes:
Harmony - Summer Sunset prefers when the different aspects of Equestria work in concert. To her, Equestria is a very complicated ecosystem that requires all of its inner processes working at peak efficiency.
Friendship - Like everypony, Summer Sunset values friendship. What good is the beauty of sunsets if there is nobody with whom to share it?
Princess Luna - If there is one pony Summer Sunset admires, it would be Princess Luna. While Nightmare Moon and a darkness eternal could doom sunsets forever, the now uncorrupted Princess Luna plays an important role in every sunset. Though they have yet to meet, Summer considers Luna as much of a co-worker as somepony in the Sunset Patrol.
Sunsets and Sunrises - Certainly the object of somepony's profession is regarded fondly.

Dislikes:
Disorder - As the opposite (or near-opposite) of harmony, it is easily one of Summer's least favorite things. It makes here uncomfortable to the core.
Conflict - It's bound to occur when she finds another pony a troublemaker. Better he or she change his or her ways lest they'll both have a bad time.
Discord - He's practically the master of disorder. In fact, he is. If Summer Sunset were to live under his reign, well, let's avoid such dark thoughts.
Everfree Forest - Summer Sunset's least favorite place is certainly the Everfree Forest. All those plants and animals living free? Yuck! Better that everything is where it is supposed to be when it is supposed to be, all under close regulation by ponies. Also, there are fewer things to eat you then.

Motivation:
A more beautiful and perfect Equestria! Equestria needs everypony's hand to maintain normalcy and wonderfulness. And of course, maybe - just maybe, if Summer Sunset does her job well, she will be recognized for that. And maybe - just maybe, she'll earn the fondness of others. Of course, that's all just icing on the cupcake. Summer's cutie mark doesn't lie. She loves what she does.

Strengths:
Dutifulness - It's not just required for her job. It really is part of her. Ever since she was a filly, she knew she had certain responsibilities, and she fulfilled them to the best of her ability. Skipping chores? Playing hooky? Wasn't ever for her. 
Punctuality - Also required with her job, and also a portion of her being. Summer just wouldn't be happy arriving late. Not to mention how it could upset her schedule...
Friendliness - Summer is a naturally friendly pony. Why, experiencing all those sunsets had to make her that way.
Love of Beauty - Summer Sunset's love of beauty is what got her in the "sunset business" in the first place. It drives her to do much what she does and is also an excellent trait to share with other ponies.
Loyalty - Summer's dutifulness acts its part in friendship. She is prepared to do what she can for friends and family.

Weaknesses/Flaws:
Physical Fragility - She can be counted as a fast flyer, but in close quarters she can do little more than cry out.
Pride - Summer Sunset is no super pony and has yet to save Equestria, though doing what she does well makes herself feel a little special Unfortunately, that sense of importance often manifests itself in pride. Pride usually hurts more than it helps.
Organizational Obsession - It's nowhere near enough to be considered a mental disorder, but she definitely takes organization beyond the norm.
Workaholic-ism - Work, work, work. Simply read her Persona section.
Impatience with "Troublemakers" - One could say Summer has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to people whom rattle things up. Fortunately, forgiveness is a bit cheaper than patience.

Fears:
Unorganized Things - While it doesn't severely affect her everyday life, it can certainly put her in a fit once in a while.
Missing Work, Failing Work, and Being Late to Work - It's a bit of a trend. Summer measures herself through work, and the thought of any mess-up is frightful indeed.

Overall Persona:
Summer Sunset is a pony in love with the beauty of the sky. Like many Pegasi, she works to bring this beauty to everypony. Just before every sundown, when Princess Luna starts to bring up the moon, she and her companions paint the sky with red, orange, and yellow. Such a close contact with light tends to grant her a warm personality. Excluding during sunset, she can be founding visiting her friends across Equestria. Also, as pony with a role in keeping Equestria orderly, she has a clear dislike of disorder. She runs her life according to a schedule and deviations from that can leave her flustered. Though she usually likes everypony, those who cause trouble, either by intention or incompetence, tend to annoy her. Despite this, she is willing to forgive and help correct anypony's misdoing. That said, if that particular pony is unrepentant, she will go out of her way to let that pony know of her disapproval.

As has been certainly expressed previously, Summer Sunset is a pony focused heavily on her work. Maintaining sunrises and sunsets has always been a duty carried on by her family for generations. It's not exactly easy, either, as it requires a pony to travel across a large portion of Equestria in a single evening. It certainly puts a lot of pressure on Summer, even though her cutie mark is tailored for the profession. She sometimes has nightmares where the setting of the sun is completely dark, and nopony can enjoy the multitude of colors that comes with every turn of day into night. Of course, this has yet to happen, and while being on the Sunset Patrol can be stressful, the work hours are very short. Summer has plenty of time to relax and prepare for the next sunset, enjoying the company of other ponies, and putting her mind (mostly) at ease.

It seems the vast majority of Summer Sunset's psyche that has been examined revolves around work. Is that all she is? Like everypony, she has a favorite city to visit, a favorite flavor of ice cream to eat, and certainly many pony friends. In fact, she is constantly evolving. Work might be her focus now, but she is quite ready to learn more about honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty, and the magic of friendship. All she needs is a few more pony friends.


History/Background: This will be reworked as I had changed how manipulating the colors of the sunset actually works, i.e. it will be the same way as Pegasi create rainbows.

[Luminescence]

Well, this is a very interesting character, that's for certain! But, for a entirely biased and personal opinion, here is what I have.

First off, when glancing over the name, I read Sunset Shimmer. I don't particularly know why (not true, but the related psychological conclusions are to long so meh) and I don't know if others will see it as such, so if people give you flak for it, tell them to read closer.

Now into the actual character, it has a lot going for this mare. She has a nice warm color pallet, no world breaking powers, decent cutie marks story, so props!

Now, normally I would dwell a bit more on those parts, but I do have a few questions I want to address.

Firstly, the name. Not that it looks like Sunset Shimmer, that's not it. It just seems that it is too specific. Call me strange, I know, but it seems like from her name she had but one option of things to do in life. Now, if her family's surname was Sunset then it is an entirely different story. A quick fix I've seen some people do when dealing with this is a clarification of the cutesinyera. They simply state that at that time, if the pony wishes, they undergo a name change. Since we have no evidence otherwise, and no real reason to say no to it, we (read I) don't.

The other question I have is less about empirical things like names, but more definite things. Specifically, there isn't much told about her background. Some RPers simply chose to not have one, but they tend to be a bit simpler in consept than this, so could we have a bit more? Please

Other than that, Bravo on a good Character!

[SummerSunset]

Funnily enough, I didn't find out about the character Sunset Shimmer until after I came out with this character and I googled 'my little pony sunset.' Either way, Equestria Girls is (I believe) questionably canon and one of the names could be a surname, such as Taylor Johnson vs. Henry Taylor.

One part I left out of her story is that her family name is 'Sunset' and she is actually following the profession of her paternal family. Of course, the family preferred her to follow her cutie mark as opposed to her family and decided to keep where they went at sunset to themselves. They figured that if it was what Summer Sunset wanted to do, she would uncover that for herself like everypony. She wouldn't know ponies were responsible for the colors of sunset and would therefore not assume. Or, they could have simply not kept it a secret but her family assumed she would not be a sunset pony. However, another explanation could be that she was named 'Sunset' because of her palette.

Though, when it comes to pony names, they do tend to tell the future. Take Filthy Rich's grandfather Stinkin' Rich for example. He did not come into wealth himself and had to earn it, thus his name was rather specific to his future.

I also have a lot more events in her life that I save for future roleplay. I also like to make up aspects of a character's life as I roleplay. That said, are there any specific blanks to be filled?

[Luminescence]

Not particularly, you seemed to address my concerns. Thanks for the recap!

[SummerSunset]

Some more information about her personality:

"As a pony with a role in keeping Equestria orderly, she has a clear dislike of disorder. She runs her life according to a schedule and deviations from that can leave her flustered. Though she usually likes everypony, those who cause trouble, either by intention or incompetence, tend to annoy her.  Despite this, she is willing to forgive and help correct anypony's misdoing. "

[Gracie Sky]

I'd like to point out the things I noticed on my first glance and give some general advice.

First off is Sunset Shim... I mean Summer Sunset's special talent. You're reasoning behind how she earned her cutie mark doesn't make much sense. It does a good job of establishing her fascination of the sun, but not particularly why her specialization is coloring the sky with the colors of the sunset. Don't get me wrong, the concept of ponies coloring the sky in a fashion similar to how ponies control the weather is extremely intriguing and original, albiet it seems coloring the sky is done for the sheer enjoyment of it rather than for environment mantainence. You need to establish a clear, understandable link between grabbing onto a sunset ray (however that's done) and being a pony who paints the sky in sunset shades. I would believe something like her inventing the method by which the sky is painted in sunset colors during the day to night transition and such a technique was developed due to a lot of hard work that was sparked by her being hauled around by beam of sunlight. That is my recommendation, if you haven't gone into the specifics already.

A word on the validity of her name. Her name is validated because she comes from a line of ponies that have all found weather related professions in life. It comes to the point where ponies from this line are expected to follow suit and have their talent base on the weather, much like the Apple family with apples.

I would almost accuse her of being predictable, though. Her name is Summer Sunset and she paints the sky in with sunset colors and loves the color of the sky. I bet she loves summer, too. The links might be a bit too deliberate, and you don't want a character spelt out by their name, which tends to be a trait of background ponies. However, the fact still remains that she was expected to embrace these sort of preferences, so it's hard for me to call her out on it. You might want to emphasize her love of the sky a little less and bring out her other defining characteristics.

[SummerSunset]

I've reworked how "sunsetting" works. Basically it works exactly the same as rainbows. The sunset water is created in the weather factory, stored in pools, then used by ponies to paint the sky for every sunset and sunrise. Its purpose, like rainbows, is largely just to look pretty.

I've also reworked almost the entirety of her profile (mostly by adding more information). Yet, the only part I've yet to touch is her cutie mark story. Adding the colors to sunsets is an already established profession, so she would not be "inventing it." However, as a filly, she would not have been actively encouraged to be part of the Sunset Patrol. She discovers that on the day of her cutie mark during a competition, and whether or not she grabs onto a sun ray is something I am currently debating.

Funnily enough, the 'summer' part is arbitrary. Her parents simply preferred alliteration.

[SummerSunset]

Super update complete. Enjoy!