Fletchessa

[Gracie Sky]

Name: Fletchessa
Race: Earth Pony
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Cutie Mark: A feather within a leaf

Hometown: Fletchessa was born and raised near the base of the mountain of Canterlot, on the boarder of the Everfree Forest. She currently resides at the Splinter Lumber Company, a family owned lumber and wooden goods franchise.

History: Fletchessa was taken in by the head of the Splinter Lumber Company after being delivered to his doorstep as an infant by means unknown. Constantly occupied with his work, the head rarely had much time to properly raise Fletchessa. After a while, he found a volunteer who agreed to act as Fletchessa's caretaker. She was an animal care specialist and Fletchessa treated her as her mother.

Traits: Fletchessa is most known for her excessive attention to details, especially when it comes to working. She was home schooled by her caretaker and has been noted for doing well in math, namely geometry. Growing up on a lumber mill, she has worked a lot with logs, although she hasn't shown to be very strong, at least not by Earth Pony standards. However, Fletchessa tends to get around her physical limitations by using her knowledge of physics to work smarter instead.

Cutie Mark: Fletchessa's cutie mark was discovered quite early in her life. While most who knew her were aware of her attention to details and her skill with woodcarving, her cutie mark was discovered in an unexpected way. She once met a lone Pegasus who was on business, but seemed very down. Fletchessa was unnaturally compelled to help this pony and learned that she was currently on bad terms with a friend. Sympathetic with this stranger, Fletchessa offered her a wooden carving of a feather as sort of a charm. It later turned out that the charm somehow assisted with mending the two friends' relationship. When the Pegasus brought this news to Fletchessa, she felt a rare sensation of happiness. It was at this point, she was granted her cutie mark, representing the mending of friendships.

Personality: Fletchessa's emotions are somewhat subdued, but are also very unstable. She has been known to be very withdrawn at times, but also very perky at others, and even aggressive at times. Her caretaker has hypothesized that personalities are merely a reflection of her influences: her tendency to be alone, the cheery disposition of her caretaker, and the authoritative presence of the company head. In the rare conversations she engages in, she is generally unresponsive; not due to shyness, but because she prefers to only speak what is absolutely necessary. She also has a habit of taking everything literally, causing the responses she manages to give socially awkward at times. Even though she has terminal shyness to other ponies, she also possesses what seems to be an even stronger desire to help those in need.

[Stitchin Time]

She sounds a bit like Fluttershy, and I have to say, there are A LOT of orphan OCs.

[Gracie Sky]

Excessive orphan OCs has been a constant problem. There's just no way around it, more specifically when you want to keep one's past a secret from the character. I'm not going to start handing out amnesia to characters, either. I had Gracie Sky raised in an orphanage, so I went out of my way to make sure Fletchessa wasn't also raised in one, even though they both happen to be unaware of their heritage.

I think the problem is I can't kill parents, so this is the next best thing. I'm aware ponies in Equestria don't generally have as much... "story" behind them and live fairly simple lives. With that in mind, there's always the possibility that I can recreate a different version of the character without the orphan part and the mystery to make her closer to Equestrian standard.

[Stitchin Time]

It's true. I'm not asking you to change her, but an idea to keep her past a mystery can be she is too shy to tell anypony, or was successfully able to drown out unfavourable memories.