TerminalObsession

@@cwhip9, Mercury shrugged. "Not sure why you're asking. I can pick things up, but every unicorn can do that." She tossed her head as she cantered forwards, trotting around a corner briskly, flicking her tail against the sharp angle of the wall. String heard a faint sigh, barely noticeable over the perpetual click-click-click of hooves. Perhaps it was nothing.

Mercury hooked her own forehoof around String's and tugged, leaning backwards. Slowly, the green gel started to release its hold on String as he pushed and Mercury pulled. It was extremely slow, as String was pinned at an awkward angle and Mercury was smaller than him. Nonetheless, she managed to pull him loose, bits and strands of the gel snapping back into the main mass as String got loose. The gel had solidified , becoming more solid and sticky while String had been trapped in it. Mercury chewed on her bottom lip as she considered that, starting forward again.

@@Hazard Time, The cloaked ponies were being watched. The mare watching them also wore a cloak, but a vastly different one. It was brown, ragged, and lacked a hood. In fact, the only thing it hid effectively was the mare's cutie mark, which was fine by her. One gleaming, bright red eye quietly followed the ponies as the gray mare leaned against a wall. The only reason they had caught her eye (rather literally) was because of how hard they were trying not to. In a station filled by the pastel hues of ponies and the whites, tans, and golds of griffons, their dark cloaks made a bit more of an impression then they might have intended. And there were two of them, which made them a doubly-large blotch against the colors around them. The gray-coated mare decided that the only reason they hadn't been noticed was because of how urgent and purposeful the people around them were. They had places to go, trains to catch, and friends to meet, which meant that they weren't paying too much attention to their surroundings. For somepony who was searching for noone in particular, however, they stood out. The mare had been searching for reasonably powerful-looking opponents to fight, but she supposed that two ponies shadier than an underground fighting-pit were interesting enough. Discreetly (which, in her case, meant with as much purpose and confidence as everyone else), the mare started to follow them.

@@cwhip9, For a few seconds, all Mercury could do was stare. Her eyes darted from the vent to String and back again before narrowing in a fierce glare. "Bad!" she hissed as she pointed her glowing horn at String and pulled. Nothing happened. Mercury would barely have been able to move String if he hadn't been stuck and she'd had her full strength. As it was, String could barely feel the push, and he didn't move at all. Mercury leaned back as though pulling something, a futile gesture as String remained motionless, stuck to the ground. Panting, Mercury released her hold on him as she stood on her hooves, desperately trying to think of something.

Mercury sped up a bit before slowing down to a walk. "Think?" she muttered to herself. "Think, think, think, think, think..." She shook her head before looking up at the ceiling, narrowing her eyes against the harsh glare of the fluorescent lights. She swept her gaze back and forth before spotting something that made her halt in her tracks. She stuck out one silver hoof to make String pause as well, before pointing it at the space near the top of one wall. Set in the wall, painted the same sterile white as everything else, was a ventilation grate. Mercury trotted towards it, gray light gathering around her horn.

@@Hazard Time, (Dust is a she, thought you might like to know) Dust lifted one tan hoof to wave at the guards, snickering quietly to herself. She didn't feel like moving; the roof was warm and the guards did not seem intent on killing her there and then. She sighed, laying her head on the roof, watching dully as the guards continued towards the train station. The sparkling crystal mare, seemingly the one being guarded, took no notice of her, but Dust didn't mind. She didn't look particularly friendly, anyway. Dust shrugged quietly and yawned, feeling quite content with her perch on the sun-warmed rooftop.

@@Hazard Time, Dust Devil was bored. The city was small, and there wasn't actually much to do; At top speed, she could cross it in less than twenty minutes, and most of its activity seemed to happen below the surface. As such, when her sharp eyes spotted a square of guards marching along one street, she naturally took the opportunity to distract herself from her boredom, even for a few minutes. Flaring her glowing wings, she landed on a nearby rooftop with a thump. Gently, Dust pushed her goggles up on her face to see as she sat on the smooth rooftop. Her wings folded, vanishing smoothly into the brass plates on her shoulders as she settled herself. It was fascinating, the perfection of their lockstep, Dust decided. And even her inexperienced eye could see the quality of their armor; it was just so perfectly smooth. She certainly couldn't have afforded guards like that. Who am I kidding? I couldn't hire guards at all, even if I wanted to. Dust snorted quietly at the thought, tossing her turquoise mane as she went back to observing the guards.

Ah. I made the lines too pale; I'll definitely making them more defined next time. That's the main problem I can see. Thanks for the criticism, I'll be sure to keep it in mind next time.

So, my friend asked me to draw her OCs. Then I did. The lovely cream mare is Autumn, and the blue pegasus is Rain Drop. Autumn likes cuddles! Any critique would be appreciated!

@@cwhip9, "Mine's Mercury," the filly replied, extending a silvery hoof and shaking. Her eyes were narrowed and hard as steel, but they shimmered faintly with tears and String could hear her ragged breathing as she marched ahead. Gradually, as they rounded corners and turned at dead-ends, Mercury was speeding up into a canter, each hoofbeat the smallest bit faster than the last as she struggled to find the way out.

@@cwhip9, Mercury snorted, flicking String with her tail. "That's not gonna help," she said. "What will help is picking up your hooves and moving. So do that." Tossing her head, she started to move forward at an even canter, her hooves clip-clipping across the clean, white tiles that reflected the harsh lighting of the tunnels. Mercury didn't even glance back, though she kept an ear turned towards String. She clearly expected him to follow.

@@cwhip9, Mercury herself walked slowly backward until she was standing back-to-back with String Shot. Nervously, she glanced back at him. Her eyes darted back and forth a few times, her brow furrowing as she made her decision. Telekinetically, she gently tugged one of String's ears, eyes narrowing. Lifting one silver hoof, she pointed to a gap between two of the bones. It was barely large enough for String to fit through, if he tried hard enough. Abruptly, Mercury kicked off of the ground, taking off at a gallop. Leaping lightly, she vanished into the inky darkness behind the gap. The tip of her tail curled around one of the bones before vanishing into the darkness as well.

@@cwhip9,(Don't worry, it's fine.) Mercury's eyes widened fractionally, but she urged String on all the same. "Anywhere but here," she whispered. "This place is bad." Twisting her head around as she started to gallop, Mercury locked eyes with Star Bright. Though the tiny filly was a unicorn, she was still too young to use magic and the knife was clutched tightly in one hoof. Mercury gave the filly a wink as her horn lit with gray radiance. A similar glow wrapped around the knife's handle. With a skill she'd learned from pickpocketing, Mercury gently twisted the knife from Star's awkward grip and levitated it into her mouth, ignoring the spike of headache it caused. She'd been so gentle taking it, it took several seconds for the filly to realize her hoof was empty. Mercury twisted her head back so she was facing forward, giving String another shove as she did.

@@cwhip9, Mercury's eyes narrowed as she stepped sideways, keeping her silvery coat away from the floodlights that shone on the foals. Raising a hoof, she tugged on String's shoulder, pulling him along behind her as she wove her way through the crowd. Her hooves were nearly silent, even on the stone floor.

@@cwhip9, Mercury didn't move. Instead, she simply curled up tighter, whimpering slightly, burying her face in her tail. The tiny filly muttered something indistinct as everypony else left the car. Once everypony else had left, however, she stumbled to her hooves and walked after them, trying her hardest to keep her headache from getting worse.

@@cwhip9, "No," she mumbled, putting her hooves over her eyes and laying flat on the floor. "Go away. My head hurts." Mercury flicked her tail around her and buried her face in it before going as still as a statue. The only sound from her was the faint sound of her breathing as Mercury waited for the headache to go away.

@@cwhip9, Mercury winced and put a hoof to her forehead, just below her horn. Slowly, she sat up. "Where...?" she mumbled as another throb of pain went through her head. Blearily, she looked up at the ceiling before turning her eyes back to String Shot. "How?" she mumbled once again, slumping against the wall and closing her eyes.

@@cwhip9 Mercury slumped forward, nearly falling off the roof. The yo-yo dropped out of her telekinetic grip, bouncing to the street below as her horn went dark. She was surprisingly light in the griffon's talons. It was no wonder, really, that she'd dropped instantly.

Mercury walked towards a haphazard pile of crates and barrels stacked in the back of the alley. Levitating the yo-yo in gray magic, she jumped onto a barrel, kicked off of a crate, and scrabbled onto the roof of a house that formed one of the alley's walls. Folding her hooves under her, she watched as String Shot searched, a smirk decorating her face. Her ears twitched, but she was oblivious to the griffon that followed her.

@@cwhip9, With a fizzling noise, the yo-yo dropped from String's telekinetic hold and bounced along the ground, rolling into the crowd that had gathered. As soon as it was out of his sight, Mercury simply picked it up and levitated it over, though she kept it well below the eye level of her peers. Gently, she set it in her outstretched hoof and discreetly walked away, flicking her long, dark-red tail in a gesture of scorn. As she walked, her magic gently undid the knot in the string that had held it in place. Humming a quiet tune of her own, the silver-bright filly walked into an alley and vanished from sight.

@@cwhip9, String was so focused on twirling his yo-yo, he didn't notice one silvery horn near the back of the crowd, glowing with fluid gray magic. As he reeled in his toy for another trick, it simply... stuck. Jammed, if yo-yos could do that. No matter how hard he shook it, the yo-yo's string simply refused to unravel. Mercury giggled at his plight from her place. Sure, she had to rear on her hind-legs to see him (she wasn't the tallest filly her age) but what glimpses she did get of it were simply hilarious. The crowd leaned in, vaguely confused, as Mercury fought to stifle her giggling. She didn't want to ruin it, after all.

I'd like you to draw my OC, Amorphous, to use as an avatar. This is the only image of her I have, and it's outdated, but whatever, it's better than nothing. Take off the amulet, desaturate her coat color by a few shades, and mentally take each one of those curls in her mane and tail and unroll them into little curved spikes, then point them all in the same direction. Draw her hugging a chicken, if you can. Thanks! I'll get started on my half of the trade.

I could certainly do a trade, which would probably involve me drawing a silly pic of your OC, because I do that.

@@cwhip9, @, Thwack. Dust struck the ground with a dull thunking sound, landing on her side. The breath rushed out of her lungs and she cringed as dark leaves fell around her. With a weak cough, she rolled onto her back and lay there, trying to catch her breath. The straps around her barrel felt constricting, suddenly, and Dust was almost certain her hammers had cracked some ribs. "Ow," she hissed weakly, one green eye tracing the other ponies as they started to walk away. "Hey," she croaked, rolling back onto her stomach, "Wait up..." Wincing with pain, she stumbled to her hooves, tottering back and forth as she struggled to find her center of balance. Spreading her legs for stability, she released the buckles on her harness with her teeth and let it drop to the ground, sighing with relief as the tightened straps fell from her aching ribs. Grabbing it with her teeth, she struggled to get into the circle of light cast by Crescent's lantern. "A little help, here?" Dust squeaked, voice muffled by the straps in her mouth. Upon looking at them, she dropped the straps in her mouth to speak clearly. "What?" she said. "I'm a pegasus."

@@cwhip9, @, Dust nodded absently as she walked. "Well, it has been a while since then," she said. "And, if treated, parts of the shadow-creatures make a great medium for spells and such." She shrugged, pushing her brass-rimmed flight goggles off of her eyes and onto her forehead, scratching beside an eye with her hoof. "Anyway," Dust continued, turning to Astral, "Where do we go next?"