Description:
Name: Defying Dawn Dash
Parents: Derpy Hooves and Rainbow Dash (step-mom); father is unknown.
Siblings: (Half siblings) Lucky Star, Risky Gambit; (brother-in-law) Triple Turbo Grande Sundae
Species: Unicorn/werepony.
Body Type: In shape and slightly taller than the average unicorn.
Special Talent: Unknown/Blank Flank.
Occupation: Captain of Twilight Sparkle’s night guard, part time Sugarcube Corner employee.
Nickname(s): Dawn, Sir, Captain Hooves.
Background/Personality:
For a while, Defying Dawn was the only child of Derpy Hooves. It was just the two of them and that’s all he knew. They never lived in one place at a time for longer than a couple of years and moved around like a group of vagabonds. Even though he never could articulate it, Defying Dawn needed stability in his life. It didn’t help that the colt could not make friends because in the end he’d be gone and they’d all forget him… He was lonely and was in desperate need for validation, even if it wasn’t the good kind.
When they lived in the east, Defying Dawn found himself in a group of rough around the edges backwoods kids. For a while things were...fine. They weren’t the nicest bunch and tended to somehow find a way to blame Dinky whenever they got into trouble at school but they were willing to be around him.
Dawn was a naive kid, just like his mom.
A dare gone wrong caused Dawn to have been attacked viciously by some unknown animal and he was left with more than he could bargain for. At the sign of deep trouble, his friends abandoned him and he found out quickly that no one around there really seemed to care what happened to him besides a couple of teachers and his mom. He had contracted lupin syndrome - something that the small town they lived in didn’t have the means to treat on time...he was better off dead to some ponies. Derpy realized this wasn’t the place meant for them. Besides what medicine they gave her son to keep the syndrome at bay, what other reason was there to stay? The medicine could be obtained in other places.
After he healed well enough to travel again...Derpy’s next course in action was to move back to Ponyville. It was where she was born and Dawn never visited there; it just seemed the best bet even though Derpy didn’t want to go there for personal reasons. They always had the best, down to earth doctors who she believed wouldn't treat her son like a pariah. Their new chapter would begin when they set hooves in Ponyville and their old life would be history.
Extra:
Born Dinky Doo, Defying Dawn knew from an early age that he was Derpy’s son instead. His social transition wasn’t a complicated one and his mother accepted him gladly - Derpy would do anything for him. He chose the name ‘Defying Dawn’ for himself. He thought he earned it and dawn was when he earned his scars and when he was born.
He was born very, very small and Derpy was scared shitless. She gave birth alone in her home and was almost overwhelmed - she had to work two jobs, had a new son and no one she could call a friend. She just lay there and sobbed into Dawn’s soft, wet head, terrified.
Despite the rough start...Dawn came out as an honorable, loyal pony with a strong need to protect others.
He finds it very hard to let ponies care for him.
Defying Dawn is a werepony and has a very obvious case of lupin syndrome. As he grew older he took on more wolf-like traits. Wereponies were always given the side eye in small cases and outright hated on the end spectrum. Many don’t want to think that it was the pony before that determines who they are after the turn.
Twilight Sparkle took in on herself to help ponies with lupin syndrome to find a more solid place in pony society. Princess Luna herself once had a guard of wereponies at her disposal but what happened to them is lost in history. Defying Dawn became one of Canterlot’s first wereponies to be a part of Twilight's guard, and since then more has joined the ranks.
Due to this, he is forever in Twilight’s debt and would die for her (even though she insists he’s being silly and there’s no need to embarrass her in front of her wife waaah).
As a werepony he has a beautiful singing voice. He be sangin’.
Wereponies can ‘hide’ their symptoms, and Dawn would when he was a kid. As an adult he feels more confident and doesn’t hide as much.
Having no cutiemark never bothered him, even if kids were assholes about it. It was probably due to his condition... He always had a carefree outlook on life even when life itself wasn’t kind to him so lacking a cutiemark did not matter much. He didn’t need one to know what his purpose in life was!
The role of an older brother is totes serious! D:<
He sees Rainbow Dash and her children as family. RD is his other mom and he rarely thinks of who his father was. Family is very important to him and if you mess with the Rainbow Fam you mess with him.
The ocean is a place he never thought he’d feel connected to. His sister, Lucky Star, likes him to visit her whenever he can and getting away from the hectic Canterlot life is very soothing to his nerves. They go to bars, save baby sea turtles and go snorkeling for treasure. Aaand he will never admit it but he loves seeing Tank.
Magic isn’t his strongest suit but Dawn is skilled at making magic spectacles with different shapes and colors.
Is a good baker.
He is a bit older than Poetic Justice and the rest of the next gen.
This was unexpected! I never really planned on including Derpy’s child into my next gen...he was always a trans man in my headcanon though. Before he was a cop but that is now outdated. I thought his purple coat and blonde mane would bother me but now it doesn’t, lol. I wasn't sure on changing his name fro the original since he's not mine.
His story before Ponyville is a sad one, and even when they moved to Derpy’s hometown things weren’t perfect. Werepony discrimination is everywhere. But with Twilight Sparkle’s rule ponies are slowly becoming more open to different kinds of creatures that aren’t like them. Sometimes poor Dawn couldn’t hide what he was and ponies would catch a glimpse of wolven eyes or a fang. Werepony unicorns are rare so he is the only one in his squad.
He’s a pretty chill guy and is good at his work. Probably the military guy with all the tats that drives a Mini Cooper if he was a human lmaooo.
I will hopefully make a ref sheet on species in MLP, and wereponies are no exception.
Dinky Doo the character belongs to HasbroHasbro (2009) Icon I only take credit for the headcanons and their adult design.
