Ricochet's Backstory FoE:NH

Ricochet was born a couple of decades before the Bombs fell near Nickersburg along the Maresissippi River, growing up in a pegasus family that was responsible for causing rain to water the massive plantations spanning the Maressissippi Delta region. His parents were older when they had him, and by the time he reached adulthood, they were in their last days. When they finally passed away and left the family business to him, he decided that he had had enough of the mundane lifestyle over the plantations and joined up with the Equestrian military just before hostilities with the Zebras began. In one of the earliest skirmishes, Ricochet was injured in combat and found himself medically discharged right as things were heating up. Unhappy with his situation and wanting to contribute to the cause, the pegasus delved into arms dealing and contracted with the Equestrian government to help arm various groups overseas that opposed the Zebras.

After one visit to Shreveport on business, Ricochet was flying back westwards towards the Maressissippi to head down to New Horseleans when he landed one night in the forest due to poor visibility. Setting up camp, he was roasting marshmallows when a pair of piercing red eyes appeared in the underbrush. Grabbing his trusty revolvers, he went to investigate, but as he approached the underbrush the creature lept out and tackled him to the ground, standing on his chest. The cursed gaze locked Ricochet's eyes on the cockatrice, and before he knew it, he was now an unconscious, effectively dead, statue.

This turned out to be both a blessing and a curse, as the Megaspells were unleashed shortly afterwards, ending the world that Ricochet knew. He would lay there, unknowing and unmoving, for over two centuries, mostly swallowed up by nature as it reclaimed his petrified body.

Fast forward to the two years after the Opening of the Skies, and the Enclave was scattering. Their massive offensive during Cauterize had failed, and various splintered groups began their journey to regroup away from the newly-formed NCR. One such small band found themselves heading to the ruins of Shreveport as a waypoint to head southwest to Mobile, hearing rumors of remnant forces gathering there. Just like that night two hundred years ago, the fog and new dangers of the wasteland sky forced the group to land for the night until the sun could burn off the fog the next morning. They happened to find a ruined campsite, mostly destroyed but with a few old cans of Cram and an old bedroll along with a tattered tent that they set about mending to serve as quarters for a short night.

As they secured the perimeter, one of the officers tripped over a stone wing sticking out of the ground, mostly obscured by two centuries of dirt and dead plant life. Anticipating some sort of cache, they began digging until they found the perfectly preserved statue that was once Ricochet, still with an expression of shock on his face. Realizing what they might have just found, they regrouped with their larger contingent the next day and set about reversing the petrification. With the advanced magi-tech on hoof, the procedure worked, and a dazed, utterly confused Ricochet was now flesh and blood again. At first, they restrained him and kept him prisoner, thinking he may have just been a wastelander that got unlucky. As they ran tests on DNA and interrogated him, they realized that they had actually stumbled upon a pre-war pegasus with "untainted" (in their view anyway) DNA. Of course, at this point they told him the typical Enclave spiel, that they were the legitimate continuation of the Equestrian government and that he had found his people once more. Not really getting at this point just how much time had passed, Ricochet stayed with them and joined their migration. He didn't get very far, though.

Their supplies did not last as long as they thought they would, and Ricochet was recruited for an operation to "procure" more foodstuffs and anti-malarial chems. He figured it was just a scavving mission, and that his knowledge of the surface could help locate old caches. When they reached the coordinates they were ordered to go to, though, he realized that it was a small trading post village economically supported by travelers on their way to and from Shreveport. Upon landing at the village gates, several of the ponies of the village came out to greet the heavily armed (but small) group of pegasi. As the gatling lasers of his comrades spun up, he realized immediately what was about to happen. Without even thinking, Ricochet turned his own gatling laser on the small group of his cohorts and opened fire. Given the small size of the group of pegasi and how they were completely unsuspecting that one of their own would turn on them, Ricochet was able to mow them down before more than a few of the villagers were killed.

He stayed at the village, all but certain that another, larger wave of Enclave would come. They did, but surprisingly, they gave the villagers an ultimatum rather than simply gunning them all down: give up Ricochet. The villagers turned on him, and he soon found himself in the Enclave's brig. Interrogated, beaten, and branded as a Dashite, he was put on death row to stand "trial" and be executed. In events that were chaotic and unclear, Ricochet managed to slip away at the last moment and flew off back towards Shreveport to lay low... He knew he couldn't stay in the area forever, though.