Catpone Cerberus

@-Buttercup- "I need you to decide which style you want." Lunar said, taking out a piece of paper "The pictures are not the final design, I won't know that before I know what materials I have access to, but they give the general idea of each style." There was three pictures, a solid collar style necklace, a loose chain style necklace where the chain itself was the necklace , and amulet style where the magical part was hanging from a normal chain and or rope. The pictures were very generic and non-detailed, but they were clear in what they were trying to show.

@Lucid_Nightlight Ember became thoughtful for a moment, from the mentioned options exposure therapy made her think, she was partly doing that already with her work, and now that it had been said out loud, she realized that it hadn't been a problem for a while in her work where she kept thing under certain limit "That actually helps, thank you, I just need to plan few things with my personal therapist, it could take away two problems at once." "Arrow mentioned you work in Ponyville, maybe we could meet there again some day, discuss more the medical side as just in case, you are likely bit more experienced on that side of things than my therapist." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "*Don't worry about my speed, we may have wings, but we are made for the ground.*" it was true, that's why Ruby didn't really use her wings either other than for longer travel "*Besides, if I know the destination, does it really matter if I'm there at the exact same time?*" it would obviously take bit more time to run than fly, but since the point was to not be seen, exact same arrival time wasn't as big of a deal. Hiding also wasn't a problem, or well, hiding wasn't necessarily the right word, because while yes she did also hide, her main trick was using her magic to make her harder to perceive, it wasn't perfect, but if you were a soldier in an army ruled by fear who knew there was enemies around, spotting her hidden 'form' would be most likely seen as just paranoia.

@Lucid_Nightlight "Yeah she isn't exactly a role model." Ember remarked, it wasn't really even a question if Cinder was taken the right choice, she hadn't, Ember was more wondering what else if anything could have the same results, if there was a more...savory replacement. "And probably yes, can't say I remember all the terms used during this time." "Things are relatively well in control, I have went most of my life without it causing too much trouble besides the first time, I came to you mainly to see if you had any alternate ideas for dealing with the short term in situations like now where it has flared up again, is there....something that works after a dragon has already lost it?" in this matter she wasn't against a medical option either, she didn't really care even if she was in coma for few days if the stopped the first from happening if it ever got that bad, it would ease up her in current situation too if she knew for sure that there would be a solution if things went bad, not that they were likely to go bad, but you never knew what happened. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Danthe was the one to comment on that one, though she used the language she was more comfortable with "*What specifically you need my flight for? I can move fast, I can get over walls and I can hide in darkness, or manipulate others to not see me*" "*I am aware of my weakness, and am willing to be flown in by others if absolutely necessary, but I'd like to know if I can come up with an alternative first."*

Jenna took several deep breaths to calm her speech a bit, this was new to her too as she had never before really felt guilt hit her like this, yes she had felt guilty after Oliver had gotten shot but that was for different reason.It took a while before she spoke "It's probably easier.. to start with what wasn't a lie..." "What I have told about Talon and the Order is true, things about my past... like that arcade game, that's true, the friends, true... but the timing I lied about." "I-I'm not just a random dragon who left a long while ago, I'm n-not a viper trainee who left in middle of training.." "I" she seemed genuinely scared to continue "I was a fully trained viper... that viper attack I escaped to your home from?... I was the viper, I murdered that innocent dragon... like several before her...that's why the other viper found me so quickly...They knew where my last mission was." while she managed to calm her talking enough to be understood, her crying still had an effect on it.

"No amount of skill or powers will help if I can't spot the threat." Jenna pointed out, she slowed down so that she was walking next to Oliver instead of in front of him "And even if in the end there really isn't anything dangerous in here, you make me feel safe in this scary darkness." she then gave him a small kiss on his cheek.

@Lucid_Nightlight "In my experience medicine hasn't been a good choice, while it helped to suppress the instinct, it also suppressed other things, and excuse my opposition, but that's not really a life to live either." Ember explained, the problem with this type of things was that it was rarely only one thing that caused it, and even when it was, it was very hard to have something that affected only that one thing. "But I keep what you said in mind, I'll have to mention your insight to my therapist, as they are the one I ultimately trust with this, not meaning any disrespect to you of course, but they have been dealing with me for well over decade, they know me better than even I do sometimes." there was little bit of humor in the last part, but it was also true, she didn't doubt Placidus's expertise at all, hay, he could be more knowledgeable than her therapist, but it was hard to replicate over a decade of knowing someone. "Can I ask one more thing though? As I said, my sister has the same thing, though she embraces it rather than tries to suppress it, and she said something that made me curious, even if I'd rather not been told it...without going in too much detail, she has found that she can sate her bloodlust with...different kind of lust. I'm not going to do that, but I was wondering what you thought about that, could that help with the key to the solution somehow?" ------------------------------------ "Good enough fighter doesn't need weapons at all." Came a response from Cinder, who was entirely covered in red, she sounded normal again, smugness notable in her tone and expression, but she was still slightly more serious than usual, after all, they had very specific goal in mind with this war "Does anyone have a towel or something?" Vix kinda just looked at Cinder before addressing Quasi "So, what's the plan?" Danthe was nearby but was busy observing the area to make sure there wasn't any surprises.

@-Buttercup- "Nothing weird enough that I'd remember it." Lunar responded regarding dreams "And I need to go get materials today, so you may need to do something without me...which reminds me, I need your opinion on something regarding the necklace I'm going to make."

"In the room." Jenna said, gesturing at the elevator camera, when in the room, she made sure the door was locked and windows were blocked, it wouldn't be out of the question for there to be snipers if they were found "I...things.." she was nervous, but not only from the situation, it was almost like she was nervous to say what she wanted to, she paced around a bit before sitting down and holding her head, looking down "I'm sorry, I..I've lied to you about myself...I, not everything but...the lies kept building up...I didn't want to turn you against me...I..." "If this is what I think...I...I've put you in so much danger I..." all the confidence had melted away from her, it was weird to see almost, "I just didn't want to be alone anymore." while dragons didn't naturally cry, her human form had all the things one would expect from a human, and thus tears had started to flow from the emotional outburst she was going through.

"I need your senses." Jenna stated "I can barely see anything in here and you can hear and smell things far better than I can." she smiled at him "I need you to protect me." it was weird to her to rely on someone, but what she said was the truth, without Oliver she would be out of luck in this place, because as much as she was used to the darkness at this point, any threats that may exist would be dangerously close before she could spot them.

@Blitz Boom Ruby also heard the grumble, though she mostly thought about how cowardly everyone was for not saying what they really think out loud, sure she too avoided doing things when it was beneficial to her, but it had to be very special case for her to pretend to respect someone she hated. That was really all she thought about it, as even the mare comment was just an excuse since she found it very unlikely they weren't watched, and thus wanted to leave as quickly as possible. The miserableness of the mare's life didn't even cross her mind because...well, was that not her life as well? hatched to a hateful mother in a land of conflict and death, she had almost become another meaningless skeleton among the thousands of others, the idea of someone truly caring about her after death was not something Ruby even considered. While she didn't understand such emotional matters, she did notice the unusual...positivity with this one, it was unusual, for ponies, to relish in someone's death like that, no matter how disliked. "Something normal, you know, various creatures just living their lives, I don't know if it's what he wants to see necessarily, but it is what he needs to see." Charir again got bit closer to Leviathan so that he wouldn't lose her in the crowds "Something that helps him with learning to tolerate the herd animal activity, don't want him lashing out at a group of ponies for walking too close." while lot kinder than Ruby, Charir was still part of a loner species, and liked his personal space and peace. --------------------------------------------------- Scarecrow felt something from Crow, but he didn't recognize it, as he himself was unable to feel unease on the emotional level, though looking at it, and then at what it had noticed, he made the connection, though didn't worry, as he trusted not only Lyriel, but also the peace of this place, after all, if even he could feel it, certainly animals couldn't break it. "I have, I watched closely at the various reactions of ponies, the problem just is, I don't know where to start." "I haven't had facial muscles for most of my current existence, so I have no idea how to move them." "All I know how to do is to open and close my mouth." it was like a getting a new limb suddenly, you could tell it was there, but you had no idea how to control it. ---------------------------------------- Stargazer's species ultimately had nothing to do with Sheska's discomfort, yes ponies were the majority in those causing them suffering, yes Bat ponies were especially common in Nightmare moon's army, but that was just because they were the majority in everything, including in the opposite end of the power, the only real exception being slavery and later the general workforce, as kobolds took over that aspect in everything that machines didn't. Onache's comment about taking over got looks from the others but none of them said anything about it, though the kobold siblings agreed with her observation, as they had personal experience with that gullibility. Sheska half-muttered her response "As long as they're not a guard I'm fine." more specifically, didn't look like a guard, be it guard's armor or physical modifications, anything that reminded of their worlds guards, especially nightguards, made her feel uncomfortable beyond just hating guards. After hearing her response, Chega also moved close to Sheska, also comforting her, which Sheska didn't fight, Chega then quietly asked her something while looking at one of the scars, to which Sheska's response was to just look down, a response that Chega responded to with sympathetic hug. If Onache 'eavesdropped', the question was 'Was it a guard who...?' Trox, wanting to pull some attention away from his sister, spoke "We weren't in good relations with guards back home, so nice or not, we rather don't deal with them." "Diamond dogs should be fine, they were in similar situation to us kobolds, and I doubt even here many of them are guards."

@Lucid_Nightlight Ember thought for a moment, thinking about the best way to explain it, this was also where she momentarily reconsidered her previous statement regarding Arrow, as she went through different ways to word it "It's a...desire, lust for blood if you may, it's hard to explain to those who don't feel it, it's like seeing a delicious meal when you're hungry, but instead of food, you want blood," "I have a sister, she has the same thing." ------------------------------------------------ After Danthe and Vix had breached the line, Vix became more wary since there was now enemies in several directions, leaving him more open, but this was where his shield came to play, because while it looked like a normal, quite ineffective shield against dragons, it too was magically enchanted, which made it lot more effective. Danthe seemed to be enjoying the feeling of power she got from the weapons barely scratching her. Cinder didn't seem to have any specific goals in mind, instead she just went around causing more chaos, at some points she even managed to get dragons to kill their own by accident as she dodged their attacks or faked her location, she may have been outmatched in physical mass, but she more than made it up in her speed and agility. She did eventually start heading to the same place as the others when she noticed they had started to progress.

@Lucid_Nightlight While they waited, when Ember wasn't either in her room or doing something with Arrow, she'd spend her time around the building helping with anything she could that didn't involve violence, she didn't necessarily enjoy busywork, but she did it mainly to keep her mind busy and to pretend like she was helping with the on going situation, which she was more and more worried about as time went on, since she didn't actually know how long it was supposed to take. "He can stay, it's nothing he doesn't know already." She responded to Placidus, her problem wasn't actually a secret, she just never really talked about it because before Arrow she didn't really have friends, only allies and acquaintances, she had purposely kept it that way so that she didn't endanger anyone. "Do you know anything about overly active predatory instincts in dragons?" ------------------------------------------------------- None of them had expected it to take that long, and Cinder and Danthe seemed especially frustrated about it, but they managed, kinda, Vix had to help calm Danthe down before she started to break the ship from sheer frustration, and Cinder kinda just spaced out, disappearing now and then, and just generally acting weird, most of the time she responded if spoken to, but not always. Vix tried his skills to get Cinder back to earth so to speak, but was unsuccessful. Cinder went full berserk on the battlefield, using everything she had, her main weapon, the blades attached to the shackles on her arms, he weird crystal magic and her horn's magic. She avoided the bullets and such by both using the trick she had used to eavesdrop back before Ruby had invited her to her room, and by simply making sure there was always a dragon between her and the guns, she also seemed to be very lucky, avoiding many things just at the right time. Her fighting style was opposite of Ember's, while Ember had focused on one enemy at a time, Cinder seemed to revel having as many enemies to fight at once as possible, she was clearly enjoying the battle. Vix and Danthe meanwhile formed a duo with a clear goal in mind, the defenses, when they were close enough, Danthe started running in, and while she passed Vix, Vix just reached out his hand and grabbed on one of her horns, climbing on her back. They then literally leaped into the battle, with Danthe Running through the battlefield, as to be expected, any bullets just bounced off of her, which also protected Vix, for dragons that came close, there was three possible fates, one getting mauled by Danthe in ways comparable to Ruby's handiwork, two, getting hit by Vix's scythe, which at first seemed ineffective, but after only moments those hit would start becoming paralyzed starting from the spot hit, and dying when it reached their vital organs, the scythe was coated in some kind of self creating magical toxin, and three, getting hit by Danthe's magic, which caused the victims to be taken over by intense fear. Their goal was to reach the defensive line, get behind it, and start destroying it from there.

@Lucid_Nightlight "These are his own species, it only makes sense he wants them to be happy, I just hope Ruby will be aright, can't imagine what losing her like this would do to Quasi." she got up and went to a mirror, cleaning herself up a bit, a good thing about being red was that your face couldn't turn any redder than it already was, thus it was easier to hide the 'after-cry' look. "But I guess we could go, helps to clear the mind...but before we go." she walked next to Arrow "Once again, thank you for listening, it was needed." She then gently but quickly poked her snout against his forehead, it was a gesture that dragons did sometimes, it had many meanings, but how she saw it. it was kinda like a hug, but slightly more intimate, just not as intimate as a kiss would be. ---------------------------------------------- "Maybe worry about that after we have gotten her out?" Cinder commented, still in unusually low voice "Hypotheticals won't help her, how long is this boat ride anyway, I want to spill some blood already." the impatience was apparent from her voice.

@-Buttercup- "Morning." a yawning voice was heard as they existed the basement, Lunar had gotten herself now slightly cold tea and was kinda just standing next to her cart "Or day, whatever you say at this time." she rarely woke up with others around "Good morning, did you have a nice morning sleep?" "Yeah." Lunar's mane and tail were a mess and in general it was easy to see she had just woken up.

@Lucid_Nightlight "While another opinion never hurts, and I wouldn't mind at least seeing if he's any help. at this point it has been figured out pretty well, there's a solid theory on what it is and like I said, I have been able to handle it relatively well my whole life." "Only thing now would be to find a way to get rid of it altogether, which may be impossible." Ember explained, before taking a deep breath, she hadn't really talked about it much to anyone besides the therapist and her adoptive parents, so it felt bit weird "Like I mentioned before, it's believed to be linked to my dragon half, some kind of faulty gene caused by whatever weirdness allowed me to even exist." she was well aware hybrid like her was an oddity, since there should be no way for a dragon and a pony to have offspring together, for obvious reasons "The gene that gives dragons the predatory instinct, it's...hyperactive." "Apparently Cinder has found an...alternative way to satisfy it, but that's not really a fitting solution for me....not my kind of thing." ---------------------------------- "Medicine can have unexpected side effects, also, as you said, she probably won't agree, and forcing anything on her would do more harm than good." Vix pointed out, he didn't necessarily disagree, well, he did on the medicine, but therapy would have been good for all of her kind, the problem? good luck finding a therapist that can win their trust enough to be of any use. "I think what she needs is you." "And I don't mean just telling her how much you care or how she's great, that's worthless to their kind, how can you appreciate such words if you don't know how it feels to genuinely feel that way?" "What I mean is, be there for her, she wants to stay silent? be silent with her, she wants to talk? listen, and if you disagree, don't tell her she's wrong, instead tell her why you think differently." "She cares about you, as hard as it may be to notice, she just doesn't know how to express it, and if she feels like you shut down her attempts to connect, she'll get frustrated and become even more closed up." "This goes for everything, if she tells you that she feels like she has failed at something, don't say she hasn't, she'll see that as you lying, instead tell her why it's okay to fail." he didn't know Ruby that well yet, and no doubt Quasi knew her better, but living with three of the same species, two of which have problems with self-image, he had learned how to approach such matters with them, and that understanding was part of the reason why he had been accepted as part of the family. "If she makes it out of this, she'll need someone who's willing to understand her, otherwise she'll grow even more bitter against the world than she already seems to be." the reason he was so worried was because he had seen first-hand what the feeling of powerlessness does to a dragon, granted Enduur and Danthe had been like that quite a bit longer than Ruby, but then again, that also meant that they had gotten used to it enough to get over it. In fact, Danthe was a good example, she had ripped her own wings off because she had felt they made her more powerless.

@-Buttercup- Frail just shrugged at Sparkly's wonder, she had never really thought about it, after all, it was what everypony had always used during her lifetime, just a word among others. "Are you done looking around? since you were the one to suggested it." she asked in kind manner "I still don't have any ideas but we could go see if Lunar has gotten up, I'm interested in seeing if she came up with anything during the night."

@Lucid_Nightlight Ember didn't have time to respond verbally to the question since Arrow continued right away, but gestured a sort of 'obviously' gesture as a response, she had seen doctors, witches, witch doctors, even animal experts, yet the best she had gotten was something along the lines of 'maybe they just like you'. For Arrow's little story she gave a sympathetic look, she would have joked a bit about the fact he specified 'once', but she felt she had misspoken enough already. "My parents, whoever they are, at least had the sense to leave me at someone's door." "And I can partly relate to this...yellow pony, not literally of course, but I'm doing something similar right now, staying out of a conflict because I worry I may end up hurting someone i don't want to." ------------------------------ "So that's what she said, I noticed she spoke something between the lines in that message, I just don't understand the language." Vix remarked, he hadn't asked about it then as he assumed there was a reason he was not told what was said, he sighed "That ending haunts me, I've never heard a dragon whimper like that." Like Cinder and Danthe, his impatience grew, but unlike them, he didn't get angry, he got worried.

@Lucid_Nightlight "Nope" "No idea why but for my whole life an army of crows has followed my every move, it has to be something to do with who- or whatever my biological parents are or were, Cinder has snakes following her." Ember explained "So imagine this, you are half-dragon in Equestria where dragons are not liked due to believes about them being always dangerous, and to add to that, you have a murder of crows following you everywhere." "You also have a habit of lashing out at those who purposely annoy you." "That was me." "The weird scaly pony with army of black birds following her every move." "I got in trouble a lot, even if I didn't do anything, since my more aggressive nature got every pony blaming me every time." "Then the crows started defending me, at first it wasn't bad, they just swooped in and scared others away, but then one day things escalated.....I'm just happy no lives were lost, it was....crows are terrifying." "So, that's the story why I became homeschooled." --------------------------------------- "I assume you know something I don't." Vix noted, he hadn't understood those parts of the message, so he wasn't sure what Quasi meant by 'unable to die', sure he had heard the warning but it wasn't like you just instantly died when you became hungry, one could last quite long while starving. "For the horn, if we are to be optimistic, at least that grows back eventually, it's humiliating yes, but not permanent." he didn't believe what they would find would be pretty, but he didn't want to give Quasi thoughts about the possible horrible things that they could find. "Though it's probably extra bad for Ruby since she had clearly taken care of her horns, no doubt she is proud of them."

@Lucid_Nightlight Ember thought for a second "Did I ever tell you about all the trouble the crows caused me when I was young?" she looked at the crow that always followed her, it was sleeping in a corner of the room "Or all the trouble I got in in general?" --------------------------------------------------------- "We need to be careful when we get to her, no doubt Darkstalker has made sure freeing her won't be easy even without him in the way." Danthe again spoke "*If she is in pain, I can find her, the magic in me is drawn to suffering.*"

@-Buttercup- Frail didn't know what to answer after the compliment, mainly because it wasn't the kind of compliment anypony really said due to pony not having any say in their cutiemark, and if she wouldn't have known Sparkly, she would have probably assumed it was some weird attempt at flirting. "Thank you?" "And yeah, though the difference to a tattoo is that cutiemark will show on top of the fur no matter how long."

@Lucid_Nightlight "Huh. Guess we are even more similar than I expected." Ember said thought fully "I'm sorry, didn't mean to assume anything, I just...ponies haven't always been this nice towards dragons." she let out a sigh "I'm bad at this, I investigate others for living but I just keep missing with everything I say to you....do you have anything to ask me? would be only fair." she was known for her deadliness, not her charisma. ------------------------------------ "Third time the charm, as some say."

@Lucid_Nightlight "Understandable" Ember stated "I hope me asking didn't bring up any unpleasant memories." she was bit conflicted, she wanted to know more about Arrow, and not just because of their...physical proximity, but she also didn't want to open any old wounds "Just say if you don't want to talk about your past but...did you...hate dragons back then? when you hunted them?" she was very aware of the relationship between dragons and ponies in the past, being an obvious half-dragon among ponies, she didn't ask it to judge Arrow, she just wanted to know. "You can be honest." ---------------------- "And you would be in her place." Vix pointed out "It was a trap, neither of you realized it before it was too late, nor did any of your guards or any of us." "Remember that she decided to push you away, she made the choice to protect you, to blame yourself and to wish to be in her place is to undermine her choice." "Instead focus on making sure that it was not for nothing." it wasn't exactly the soft, comforting words one may have expected, but he had had similar talks with Enduur, and was thus used to dealing with stubborn dragons.

@Lucid_Nightlight "Morning Star." Ember repeated quietly, both to see if it rings any bells and to remember it better "It's a nice name." "I'm just Ember, or well, on paper my full name is Ember Blaze, but nobody has ever used the latter part, it's there just to make it sound more pony like." "Is there a reason why you stopped using your real name?" Arrow had introduced himself as such to everyone, so while she understood it could have been sensitive topic, she couldn't help her curiosity, ----------------------------------------------------------------- "So she probably noticed it..." Vix said thoughtfully, guess Ruby did care for Quasi even if she didn't really show it, you didn't take a hit for others if you didn't care. That made Vix realize something, Quasi had been really calm this whole time....he decided to say something "Your highness, I feel that someone has to say this, whatever we find, it's not your fault."

@-Buttercup- "This? it's just decoration, though if somepony believes it brings luck or something, who am I to claim otherwise, maybe believing something hard enough makes it true." Frail said in a generally happy manner and put the 'amulet' back with the other objects "Cutiemarks aren't always a good thing, as mentioned before, they can be confusing, their connection to our talents can also be used against us."

@Lucid_Nightlight Ember raised her head so that she wasn't talking into Arrow's fur "The problem with taking down big names in the criminal underworld is that there's always someone who wants revenge." she pointed out, she wasn't really on the mood to talk about work, but she decided to mention it anyway "For Ruby's kind and Ruby herself, I'd say it's not that surprising, nobody knew they existed before Ruby appeared, even the princesses had no idea, and Ruby acted like a pony well enough to not cause suspicion before she did." "It could also be that there simply wasn't any of their kind in Equestria during your time, Ruby moved next to me only few years ago, and...Enduur?.. and her family stayed hidden until they ended up here." she thought for a moment, "Can I ask you something? You said Arrow isn't your real name...What is?" she looked him into his eyes when she asked it, her eyes had a...soft look in them, a look that contrasted with her usual tough-professional demeanor. ---------------------------------------------- "Let's hope it's just her pride." Vix said with concern, Danthe finally spoke between all of her anger, though if it added to the conversation was another question "Darkstalker coward, real dragon fight Ruby, no capture." Vix though about something "What if Ruby was not the target?" "The wedding attack was clearly aimed at you, and I remember hearing it's you who killed Darkstalker, not Ruby." "If it is only about Ruby, why the message? wouldn't he want to avoid starting a war if it was just about making Ruby pay?"