This. It's that kind of thinking everyone has where they're like "Yikes, that sucks. That probably won't happen to me, though."
Right then, here goes. If you wouldn't mind filling in this template, just so I've got an idea of your character: Name: Age: Gender: Breed: Hometown: Occupation: Bio: Appearance: Here's mine: Name: Taffy Warmheart Age: 19 Gender: Female Breed: Earth Pony Hometown: Dodge Junction Occupation: Repairpony Appearance: Light olive coat, brown mane and tail with purple streaks, Hazel eyes. Black Spanner silhouette for a cutie mark. Bio: Taffy likes to see how things work, and repair them. She's received no formal training as such, but seems to have a knack for her work; she can figure out how most anything works just by looking at it. One day the Flim Flam brothers came to her town and she improved the efficiency of their machine; she was sad when they was run out of town. Stick yours up, and we can get started.
Name: Arcana Cantare Age:19 Gender: Male/Female (Changes and I will refer to the changes in pronouns) Breed: Unicorn Hometown: Los Pegasus Occupation: Singer/Songwriter Appearance: Light tan coat, long reddish brown mane and tail. Eyes of swirling greens and violets. Chaos for many talents cutie mark. Bio: Travels around to get his name out as a singer uses magic mostly to play original music in the background and project his voice to his crowds. Got into a bad hit with dark magic use and is now looking to reverse the chaotic effects. How is this? You want to start or should I?
(looks good; time to start 'er up!) The sun was beating down hard on the Manehatten street, and Taffy was sweating slightly as she wiggled under the wagon to fix it's axle. Some creative use of duct tape and liberal amounts of hammering later, and it was good as new, or at least, good enough to get to a workshop for a replacement. "There; that outta hold, s'long as you don't go driving into any more potholes anyway." She gave the wagon's owner a semi-serious stern look, and he blushed a little. "Aw gee, ya really helped me out of a tight spot there. Here, take this for your trouble." He said, handing her some bits before setting off down the street. "You're welcome!" She waved at him until he disappeared around a corner, then looked around for a cafe to spend her spoils on some lunch.
Soft music was coming from the windows of a small cafe. Visible in the corner windows is a unicorn with his horn glowing. The music is meant to evoke a feeling sadness, but hope towards the end. The next sound was the jingling of bits going into a simple jar as the ponies applaud "Thank you very much" He spoke and gave a small bow.
Taffy entered the cafe as the customers were finishing applauding the unicorn stallion on the small stage. She headed to the counter and ordered a daisy sandwich, then took it to a table next to the window to eat it; she liked watching all the fancy Manehatten ponies going about their business.
"Hehe, I was originally sitting there. You wouldn't mind if we share a table do you?" He gestures to the empty cushion at the other side of the table. He looks to the new customer of the cafe for her response.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise. No, please, take a seat." Taffy said, smiling. "My name's Taffy, Taffy Warmheart; what's yours?" She asked, offering her hoof for him to shake.
He shakes her hoof. "My name is Arcana Cantare. I am at your service," He says as he sits down to relax. He levitates a cup of coffee that was waiting for him to pick up after his performance. He takes a small sip of his drink before adding a bit of sugar and a lot of cream. " I would say 'I haven't seen your face before,' but I recently arrived myself. How are you?"
"Oh, I'm fine thank you. I've only been in the city for a few days; I travel from place to place looking for action and adventure!" She waved her hooves enthusiastically to illustrate that last part. "I, uh, haven't really found any yet though," She said, deflating a little. "How about you? What brings you to the big city?"
A small chuckle escaped his lips at her antics "I was following a rumor. And earn some money as you can see." Arcana said as he took another sip of his coffee. "My intention is getting to Canterlot." "And for the big city part, well, I tend to earn more in the bigger cities than I do in the smaller towns." His eyes showed his excitement, "I always get a rush over playing with anything new. New music, new cities, new crowds" His horn started glowing faintly, glowing darkly. He doesn't notice.
"I'm afraid I didn't hear you playing," Taffy said, somewhat sadly. "But these folks certainly seemed to enjoy it!" She added, brightly. She looked out of the window once more, "This is the first big city I've been to, and it's great an' all, but I sure would like to see Canterlot..."
Eyeing his bit jar in his case, "I think so too, I'm surprised the folk music seemed to be the most popular," Arcana said. "I'm sorry you didn't get to hear it, maybe another time. I have another concert later tonight," He pauses for just a moment. "Would you like to come? I'm sure I can get you in? He offered with a smile as his strange eyes grew hopeful. The dark glow of his horn getting stronger.
"Sure, I'd like that," Taffy grinned, "Been too long since I've listened to real music; all you get on the road is travelling songs and whistlin'." As she finished her sandwich, she raised an eyebrow at Arcana's horn; "I hope that glow ain't nothing mischievous," she warned, still grinning, but half serious. The stallion seemed friendly enough, but she'd heard all kinds of strange tales about unicorn magic on her travels.
"There's a glow?" Arcana's eyes get wide as the green and violet mixes faster. "Horse apples" He muttered under his breath. His body started glowing with the same dark color.
Arcana's body shifts in the glow as runs into behind the cafe into the restroom. Coming around the corner is the same colored unicorn with the same length mane and tail. The cutie mark is the same, but the body is obviously of a mare. Surprisingly no one else in the cafe seems to notice, but the faint lightly colored glow of the unicorns horn seems to give a clue. She sits back down and says, "Well, now you know the reason I'm going to Canterlot." She then smiles and chuckles at her situation.
"Wow," Taffy breathed, wide eyed. "How'd you do that? Some kind of weird Unicorn magic?" She paused and frowned in thought for a moment. "No, it didn't look voluntary; some kind of curse? And you're going to Canterlot to find a cure!"
Arcana laughed again. "Very perceptive and yes, it's a curse." She finished her coffee "One that involves dark magic and a stupid colt." She looks a bit downtrodden as she finishes speaking. "Oh, why did this have to happen now?"
