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Childhood

Cy-Buck grew up in a rich and wealthy environment. His mother, Dust Pick was the owner of a silver mine, while his father, a soldier, went missing during the civil war, most famously known as the “Zanuki massacre” a few months back. Cy-Buck has only seen a few pictures of him from before he was born. Cy-Buck was a dream child. He never wanted any expensive toys, not that that would have been much of a problem, he never stirred up too much trouble and he was never overly rebellious towards any figure of authority, always doing as he was told. The problems lied elsewhere. Cy-Buck never showed any sort of interest in hanging out with other kids. He preferred to stay inside all day and read or played with his toys by himself. This was partly because of his chronic fatigue syndrome, he simply did not have as much energy as the other kids, not by a long shot. But also because of lack of interest. Dust suspected that the other kids were cutting him out of the fun, but after a few talks with some of the local parents, she learned that some of the kids would love to have Cy-Buck along for the fun. But Cy-Buck himself couldn’t be motivated enough to go play with the others for unspecified reasons. The fact that he was getting private lessons didn’t help either, but his mother didn’t want to send him to the local schools, as they had a dirty reputation. Dust didn’t want to force him and therefore tried finding an alternative solution, by buying him a pet cat named Olivia, but he didn’t want it, so Olivia was now just the household pet.

Angel

However, one fateful day on his eighth birthday while he was sitting by himself on the balcony, reading as usual, he spotted a little baby raven on the ground near a tree. It was squirming on the ground, seemingly unable to move. The little light blue colt quickly rushed out the door to the distressed creature. Closer examinations revealed that the little bird had gotten his leg stuck in a root peeking out from under the ground. With great caution, Cy-Buck carefully forced the root upwards with a small stick and freed the little baby. However, the bird was very clearly limping and so Cy-Buck took him back home to his mother to show her the injured little creature. It took some negotiation, but eventually she agreed that they may take the little bird to the vet, who happened to be a close friend of the father, as well as cover the costs for the healing procedure. Not long afterwards, the little raven could walk again. After the healing was done, the vet told them that the raven was going to be sent away to a zoo, but little Cy-Buck protested, saying that the raven deserved to be with his real parents. He said that if he himself can’t be with his father, he at least wants to keep somebody else from the same fate. Out of respect for Cy-Bucks father, he accepted that Cy-Buck may return the raven to his real parents, much to the displeasure of his mother. Little Cy-buck took the little bird and carried her around in a small cardboard box. The raven in question could have easily taken off, but didn’t for some reason, staying neatly seated in the cardboard box. Unfortunately, there was no signs of any nests on the trees or other birds in the area. It was also the time he realised how much he had been sitting around, as during this little quest to look for the parents of this little birdie he had been outside longer than any other day. Though it was getting late and he decided to call it a night and continue looking tomorrow. During that time, he kept the little raven in the box and put some sticks in it, building a little make-shift nest for the bird to feel comfy in. He would also feed his new temporary pet some seeds. The following week, Cy-Buck desperately tried tracking down the parents of the little bird, but was unsuccessful. At that point, the little colt had given up and accepted that some are simply not meant to be with their parents. Saddened and heartbroken, Cy-Buck gave the bad news to her mother who took the little raven along back to the vet so he could take her to the zoo. However, after trying to hand her over to the vet, the raven could be seen flying for the first time across the office back to Cy-buck, landing on his back, which scared him at first, but realizing, that she wouldn’t leave his side, he refused to let her be taken to the zoo. He said that he will take care of the raven from now on and that he will give her the parentship that she would have never gotten all caged up. An entire hour of bickering later, they came to the agreement, that Cy-buck can keep the Raven for one week and prove that he has what it takes to properly parent this little birdie. If not, she will go to the zoo no matter what. The little colt agreed and walked home with his new pet. The bird had been a stroke of luck, as Cy-Buck weas finally going outside again, more then before, but not to play with the other kids, but to play with his little raven, who he has decided to name Angel. Angel would not leave his side, not even during his private lessons, where she was seated on a nearby table. She ended up distracting him a few times, but those incidents were sprinkled very thin as time went on, so she was still allowed in the classroom. After the week was over, Cy-Buck proved himself as caretaker and got to keep the raven. With Cy-buck finally going outside again to play, Dust saw the bird as fate intervening and didn’t try getting between the two.

Cutie Mark

Cy-Buck loved reading comic books, especially ones about ordinary everyday folk getting the job done and defeating evil without fancy super powers. He wanted to be like that too, but with his weak physical form, that would never happen, so it was left as an invisible fantasy at the edge of his mind… Until his twelfth birthday, where he was gifted his first own computer. It was more intended to help him study, which he did at first, but soon he discovered that his PC also came with a free art program. The little curious colt inspected it further and found it to be relatively easy to understand what everything did. What was not as easy was actually using these tools effectively. Cy-Buck really struggled drawing straight lines with a mouse and tried taking shortcuts with the available tools, which only ended up taking more time. But he didn’t give up and kept at it, as he was finding a great sense of fascination out of being able to create something from basically nothing. A few days later of nonstop practice, he was eventually good enough to draw smooth lines relatively consistently and picked up in speed as well. One month into doodling garbage, he finally made something that he was happy with and went to show it to his mom. It was a picture a picture of Angel. It wasn’t very detailed or accurate, but for one month of experience, it was passable. Dust was proud that he wanted to creatively expand and encouraged him to keep at it. Cy-Buck found great enjoyment in doodling so it was no problem for him. His drawings were mostly about himself as little pony kicking the butt of the bad guys and saving the day. While looking for reference pictures, he stumbled on a video game called “Minig’s mines”. It was an 8-bit text adventure, in which you play as a unicorn knight trying to locate a kidnapped king somewhere in a mine that housed a foul demon named Minig. The game itself was a bit too expensive for him at the moment, but the demo was free to play, so he quickly downloaded it and gave it a go. He was amazed how such a simple pixel style could portray something so cool. No need for fancy visuals. It had a bit of a charm to it actually. The demo ended right at the door to the final boss of the level. Little Cy-buck was absolutely baffled when he read the credits as this whole game was made by only one person. This got him thinking… “Could I do that too?” he was already holding his own as artist, surely placing a few pixels to create a slightly less detailed drawing couldn’t be so hard. He was proven wrong very soon. No matter how he placed the pixels, they always looked off in a way. So, Cy-Buck simply went online and remade the stuff of people more talented than him until he got a better understanding of how it worked exactly. It took some time, but eventually he obtained his own style and he could make simple characters more consistently. This was enough to scrap together a stage for a jump and run adventure. That’s where his plans fell into the water, however. He read that at least a very basic programming language would be required to make an 8-Bit game. The impatient little colt groaned and looked up online on programming and if there were any classes he could take.

He booked the cheapest one and began learning. The whole thing was luckily completely online. Cy-Buck’s mind was absolutely fried from all these terms he didn’t understand. He couldn’t memorize all this stuff and decided to make little hoofnotes on a piece of paper nearby so he could peek whenever he needed to, which was a lifesaver throughout most of the classes until he could memorize it by himself. Three months later, Cy-Buck was able to program basic scripts and triggers, with lots of room for improvement. He also went to the local library and borrowed books about programming which he thoroughly studied alongside his school assignments. Near the end of the year, he was able to finally get working on his very own game, It was Jump n’ Run adventure, where you play as Cy-Buck himself, trying to collect as many cookies as possible while avoiding getting damaged by the enemy scorpions. Cy-Buck HATES scorpions. Spiders are fine, though. Non-poisonous ones at least. Having finished his first game, even if it was a small project, Cy-Buck felt infinitely proud. According to his online teacher, he was one of the quickest learners he had ever taught. Making games quickly established itself as one of his new hobbies. While he was still drawing and even started getting into animating as well on the side, most of his time went into programming games. On heart’s warming eve, he got his cutie mark, which was the basic programming sign </>. This only further motivated him to get better at making games.

Robbery

From age 15 to 16, Cy-Buck tried to follow his mother’s wish and try and find some friends. Such social isolation would drive him insane, he was told. Despite this, Cy-Buck still showed no sort of enthusiasm to find friends by himself. So one evening, he packed his things and went out to the local bar and hangout spot for all the cool kids. On his way there, he had to pass through a dodgy part of the town where the buildings were closer together and there were more alleyways. All in all, it was very cramped together. So eventually, while walking through an alleyway, a group of strangers crossed paths with him. They all looked around his age and incredibly roughed up, like they hadn’t eaten in days. He tried going through them, but was stopped by one of them, who told him that he would have to pay some kind of insurance to make sure he doesn’t have any “accidents” on his way to his destination. Cy-Buck, confused by this, refused and simply tried walking off. Though right when he made the first step to turn around, he was grabbed from behind and forcefully pinned down as his pockets were searched. They were mostly empty, save for some chocolate bars and tissues. Despite them being a group of four, it only took one single pony to pin Cy-Buck down and check for any valuables. He tried his best to resist against his aggressor, but without any success, despite him not trying hard at all. Seeing he had nothing worthwhile; they took the chocolate bars and tossed his light frame out of the alleyway. As he recovered, he could only see the group of ponies flee somewhere in the opposite direction. Cy-Buck stood up with tears in his eyes and ran back home, locking himself in his room. Ever since that day, he never wanted to try integrating himself into the social life ever again, being now actively afraid of the outside world.

Homecoming

When Cy-Buck turned 17, he was officially brave enough to release his first game to the public. It was a survival horror game in which you were trapped in a military base full of guns and ammo, even tanks to try and fight off the zombies and escape. It was procedurally generated each time, so each playthrough was unique. He put it up online for cheap and made his money back in two days. The results were not overwhelmingly positive, but that others were actively playing something he had made, filled him with joy. He took all the criticism to heart and tried adjusting the game accordingly. A few weeks later, a special letter came to them. Within it was revealed, that Cy-Buck’s father, Copper Hoof, was found alive after being missing for seventeen years. He was found sleeping in cryo stasis in an underground laboratory of the Zanuka terror organisation, who experimented on random ponies of the outside world as well as captured enemy soldiers to try and turn them into hostile mutants. This however takes twenty years of preparations, as the test subject must be infected with a parasite that takes so long to fully infect the whole body. Luckily, the parasite could be extracted without too much harm being done. Copper could not feel any of his hooves and was forced to sit inside a wheelchair. The parasite had been inside him long enough to temporarily paralyze him. The duration of these effects may vary, according to the medical staff. Either way, he was allowed to return back to his family with the knowledge that his comrades back home were finishing off the terror organisation. Dust Pick nearly pounced on her husband after they were separated for so long. It was a very tearful reunion. Cy-Buck was on his PC with headphones on when it happened, so he couldn’t hear his mother calling him. After receiving no reaction, Dust just decided to roll her husband to his room. Only after he saw the door open did he take the headphones off and cared to look who entered. Naturally, he didn’t even recognize his father at first, until he was told so by his mother. Unfortunately, Copper was less than pleased that his son was only sitting around all day, playing or making video games and, from his personal perspective, wasting his life away. So starting off, Cy-Buck and Copper led a pretty hostile relationship, as Copper didn’t understand that Cy-Buck was making actual money with his hobby. As a soldier, all he knew was cold, hard and honest work. He missed the technological advancements form the past years he was frozen and assumed his son was lying to him to avoid getting a real job. Cy-Buck always wanted to meet his father, but now that he was actually there, he wanted nothing more than him leave again. The main argument was that he was isolating himself and not going outside at all unless taking Angel for a flight. He couldn’t understand that Cy-Buck was still terrified from the outside world since he was robbed with ease. Luckily though, as the years went on, the two eventually made up and listened to each other’s problems and concerns. Now that the relationship was mended, Copper gave his son his dog tag, saying that he will now always be close to Cy-buck’s heart.

Present

Now 20 years old, Cy-Buck had moved out and took to living somewhere in the forest by himself and Angel. He was still happily developing games alone and making good coin off of it. Occasionally he was also doing commissions whenever he felt like it, but mostly stuck to his games. He may also be seen taking strolls through nearby villages and bigger cities, much to his own discomfort. Though at the moment he was looking for a romantic relationship. He wanted a big and strong mare to keep him safe and protect him from the evils of the world. He wanted somepony to feel completely safe with. He wanted somepony he could trust and just let loose. If that meant going to through the scary outside world, so be it.