Catpone Cerberus

@Blitz Boom "I also have duties to attend, so I won't hold you any longer, I appreciate your words, and we'll meet again at some point, hopefully in calmer circumstances." "I'll put a word forward in the headquarters that this town needs more guards." Stargazer hadn't asked for it, but Solar didn't do it for him as much as he did for the reason of security, one guard could not do the job 24/7, or well, a regular guard couldn't, he could, but he was half machine, literally, though even he needed to sleep now and then...point being, forcing a single individual to be responsible for the town was at best negligent, and at worst deadly. If there was nothing else, Solar would seemingly take a quick glance at the area as a whole, before saying his goodbyes and taking off, but in reality, that glance was him recording the place for further analysis, in all of its negative effects, a good thing about being part machine was that you could do things like machine. If nothing else came up, he'd make his way back to his room in Canterlot, after leaving a short report about the town's security problem, which basically said 'While Stargazer did excellent job dealing with the newest threat, failing to reinforce the active personnel in Ponyville has the potential to lead to unprecedented loss of life.', of course written in correct official way. Solar's office/rooms was rather normal, there was a front desk, empty at the moment, and then further in was his desk, and to the side there was a separated conference room, which was under construction to be transformed into a secure operation briefing room. Around Solar's desk was lot of paper, all the work in progress paperwork, and behind it an overly secure locked box, which had pieces of technology and whatever else samples he had gathered to investigate. On a table to the side, there was a machine, he had gotten it made thanks to a tinkerer in ponyville, and simply put, it was a printer that allowed him to get information out of his mind directly on paper, it was very limited in its capabilities, thus the need to still write everything on the official paperwork, but he used it mainly to get the information on paper so that when eventually he'd get someone to help with the paperwork, he wouldn't need to share it verbally. He had ordered other machines too, but they were still under work, things like a projector that can project from his mind and such, basically machines that allowed him to share information from his systems to others, and machines that allowed others to investigate things without him being there, it was lot of work for the tinkerer, but it was possible with what this world already had. After printing the draft of the report for the Sheez incident, Solar checked his mail for anything that may take priority over writing reports, and he did find one thing that did, a report from Manehattan. It stated that a body matching descriptions of what goes under Solar's responsibilities had been found and moved to proper storage to wait for him, along all the actions taken regarding the area of discovery. So Solar took off once again, and ended up taking a train because he had flown enough for today. --- "I am in no hurry, my companions can go on without me if they feel impatient, they don't need me, and I can always find them again." Myrkr stated, and as proof for his words, he sat down on the ground "But before I talk more about my order, I'd like to address what you said before." "The line between a Paladin and a zealot is a thin one, that is the truth, I have seen other paladins, other orders, which I would call zealots." "At least in my point of view, which is of course affected by my upbringing, what determines the side of the line you are on, is awareness, there's a fine line between devotion, and blind fanaticism." "I'd like to believe that I have managed to stay out of the blindness, but it is something only others can judge." "Furthermore, blindness is what brought the doom of our order, in hunt for justice, we became tools of injustice, and in our quest to bring hope, we lost our own vision for future." "Some of us became so fanatical, that they lost their devotion." while somber, he sounded like he had accepted it all at this point "I am sad to hear that the willing ignorance for history is true here too, guess it's just an universal truth for our kind, a saddening irony, as with our long lives we should be the ones to treasure it, to learn from the mistakes of those before us." "Those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it." Then the wish for more information. "It seems there may be a small misunderstanding, paladins is not the name of the order, paladin, is simply a title, like knight, or general, there are paladins of various orders." "The names of orders are various, but usually reference something that is important to them, like the founder, the being they worship, or their core belief, however it can often be symbolic rather than direct." "My order is named after our founder, The order of Pyre." "Not much is known about them, other than the name, it's not even clear if it was their real name or a name they gained at some point." "And it's not matter of bad record keeping, the history of the order was written down in detail, but any mention of Pyre is kept vague." "The origin of the order goes further away than its creation, as before it there existed an unnamed group, part of which Pyre was, not many texts survived from this time, as they are ancient even by dragon standards, but those that did, tell a story of Pyre's group having to flee their home due to actions of a leadership, they detail some things from their journey, and finally mention the unjust suffering of Pyre." "It's unclear if they died or not, but the group was named in their honor, and that then evolved into the order." "Then things are quite uneventful for a long while, the group becomes a full blown order, they get new members, old ones die as time goes on, some things change, some stay the same." "Pyre was never worshiped, in fact, our order has always been quite open minded as far as religious groups go, as the only requirement was what's stated in the oath, so it didn't matter what you may or may not worship, as long as it is devoted to principles of the order." "However, it would be false to claim Pyre has no effect in the rituals of the order, most obvious example being funerals, as we burn our dead, on a pyre." "Things started to take a turn a millennia or so ago, the world became a darker place, more unjust, so suddenly the order's devotion was tested, the mission became more real. Things went well back then, but looking with hindsight, it was the start of the collapse." "Some centuries later, I come in." "I mentioned that fate chose me, 'forces beyond my understanding', it was not symbolism." "I hatched into a world of darkness, far from my land of origin, descendant to dragons who had to flee for their life." "My biology is bit different than you may expect, we evolved differently to dragons from Dragon Isles" "I won't grow much bigger than this." "But smaller size doesn't make us any less dangerous." "Without going in detail, I had flee my home, which is where the forces come to play." "I started hearing voices in my head, and while obviously at first I thought I was losing my mind, after a while I noticed things that couldn't be creations of my mind, which ultimately then led me to the order." "I'll come back to that." "The fall of the order was first slow and then quick, as things tend to be." "As years went by, a great power grew around us, a collection of nations, an alliance on paper, an empire in reality." "They were militaristic, and while they started as a force for good, they became a tyranny." "We....helped them, we took down their enemies, who, yes, also were unjust causes of suffering, but were ultimately smaller problems than the one we were helping, even if indirectly." "This conflict broke the order, some couldn't handle the fact that there was no good choices, some were so stricken by guilt that they lost all hope, and some lost their belief in justice." "Some of us stayed, but then the last trial came, the empire gave an ultimatum, work for them, or die." he paused for a second "When the troops came, I was the only one standing guard." "If the order stands or falls is not a question, it has fallen already, I do not carry the weight of rebuilding, but the weight of legacy and history, I will continue my duties as paladin of Pyre, I try to inspire others to fight for justice, I will warn others of the mistakes we made, but the order will die with me, for it is my duty to carry the weight of our mistakes." "You may wonder why I stayed, why I still consider myself part of it, and to that, there's two answers, one is simple, I had...I have nothing else, it is as much part of me as I am part of it, and the second..." he took out an enchanted sword from under the robe, putting it on the ground in front of him, at first glance it looked like it was made of bronze, but at closer look the material was different, though that wasn't probably the focus point, as the sword was decorated with what resembled dragon eyes, one smaller and one bigger, eyes, which turned to look at Nerzhei "...I was chosen by the holy relic of the order, The blade of Sight, it called me to it, and it is my duty to carry it until I perish." --- It wasn't as much hubris as it was desperation from Charir, it was the only thing he could think to do to protect those he cared about, including himself, after all, he was well aware that even in best case scenario, it didn't do much, was it really arrogance to rather die fighting an unwinnable fight, than standing scared doing nothing? After all, as far as he knew, death was the only end result here. This would show when he found himself restrained, as he was not filled with confidence nor determination, but rather, panic, as in his last ditch effort, he started spewing fire until his breath ran out, at which point, regardless of how effective it may or may not have been, if he found himself stuck again, all he could do was struggle and whimper, because ultimately, no matter how tough of a life he had lived, he was still just a youngling, and he was absolutely terrified. His state was such, that if he did at any point manage to break free enough to move, his first, and only instinct, would be to run in whatever direction the priestess wasn't in, and it would be blind, panicing run, like a wild animal. Ruby wasn't in a spot to help Charir, but if/when Leviathan did at least try to help him, she was in position to watch her back, and she would take the first orb going for Leviathan, and as she was being covered, she'd try to kick around a bit, but other than that, she wouldn't be much resistance, ponies weren't good at fighting something like that, and she was so tired from all the running that there was only so much force she could use. She held her composure. She didn't try to transform here, mostly because she saw no use in it, nor was she really in the head space to quickly check if she could fit here without dying instantly, or more importantly in this case, without crushing the two others getting crushed by her. The fact that she could have done more damage in that form didn't really matter to her, because she had no reason to believe that it made a difference, as far as she knew, these things could come back from anything, and they had sealed the exist anyway. Ruby knew when to give up, they were against magic here, and the fact was that she didn't have much to do against it, regardless of her form, besides, the fact that they were still alive did imply that there could be a way out of this, after all, this place had dark magic that could burn flesh off your bones, so if they were wanted dead, why would they even bother with the capturing thing?

@Props Valroa From outside, Una seemed to sleep as restfully as always, any movement being just normal movements of dreaming, however, inside was quite a different story. Una found herself in the facility that had been her life before Sombra, or at least she assumed it was where she was, because while she didn't recognize the exact location, she hadn't seen anything like it after meeting Sombra, so it had to be something from before it. Recognition wasn't helped by how...unstable the place was, any time she looked away from something, there was a chance that things were different when she looked back, she assumed this was due to it being a dream, and the haziness of her memories, since it would be hard for her mind to be consistent on something she barely remembered. Curiously, as she explored, any time she entered a room with a tube similar to what she had been in, she felt strong emotions, fear, joy, concern... even though every room was empty...kinda, there was always something in the tube, and there were staff around, but not physically, it was more her mind telling her there was something, but her senses not picking it up, most likely another effect of her memory, ghosts of wiped memories. However, when she entered her own room, things were lot more clear, and it wasn't empty, as she was in there, or well, two of her were, arguing. The darkness from the previous dream was also there, but this time it had attached itself onto one of the versions of her, taking the shape of her shadow with slightly more draconic features. The argument going on was about what happened earlier with the pony, the darkness attached version basically rejoicing about what happened, while the other was disgusted and angry about it. Una herself, couldn't speak, she tried, but no sound came out, however, her other selfs turned their attention to her, and started speaking to her instead, the other one scolding her for letting what happened happen, and the other thanking her and in almost seductive way encouraging her to ignore the other. As this happened, everything she had tasted, smelled and felt, came back to her like it had just happened, though more worryingly, Una found that she was unable to move now too. Things escalated, and soon the two version of her were physically fighting, but instead of physical pain, any time one got a good hit on the another, a memory would overwhelm Una's mind, replacing everything else, the memories were hazy and nonsensical, with only small details in any way comprehensible to her, but there was a clear pattern. Simplified, any time the one with the darkness got an upper hand, the memories, made Una feel things that fueled anger, thirst for blood, in some cases literally, violence, and other things that were more....animalistic, while the other gave more positive things, motivating calmness, reason and generally less instinct driven things. This would go on until she was woken up, she would not wake up naturally, as much as she tried, and would only wake up when someone or something would wake her up, at which point she'd wake up with a yelp, overwhelming anxiety showing from her face, and she'd start physically shaking as if she'd been tensed up for a while.

@Props Valroa Cinder was the first to answer, as Noctuna thought about it for few moments "I don't really have anyone like that, maybe my ex? Would I kill him again? probably not, he was so pathetic that it wasn't that satisfying in the first place." "But if we are to assume he is the exact same minus meeting me, I'd probably try to seduce him and use him for my own entertainment." she figured that first thing she'd do if she ended up in a new world and found someone she knew, would be figuring out if there was a version of herself there too, but that wasn't the question. "I would observe them and make a decision based on that." "The problem with revenge, is that it's a circle." "Circle of violence as some say." "By getting revenge, however justified it may or may not be, you will wrong someone else, be it a friend, family, or even just a member of same species, and they will likely seek justified revenge on you." "So if there was to be versions of my enemies here, who are identical to those I dealt with, but with the difference that they are not aware of me, I'd ask myself, what actions are the best on the long run." "Is the satisfaction of their screams worth entering the circle again? Is it worth making new enemies?" "It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, by attacking those who caused you trouble in different world, you give them a reason to cause you trouble in this one." "I myself am a good example of this." "My enemies saw me as a potential enemy, so they tried to get rid of me in advance, but in doing so, they not only created an enemy that was far more dangerous, but they caused a chain reaction, that will cost them lot more than they ever gained attacking me." "So I would ask myself, is it better to leave them alone, and possibly never have to deal with them again, or to seek justice, but ensure that someone else will become a problem." One could get the idea that Noctuna liked the sound of her own voice...and they would be 100% right, she had a very high opinion of herself, the only real difference to Opaline on that aspect, was the fact that she didn't have the need to prove it to anyone, she didn't need the validation from others.

It is a story as old as time, Demons and Angels, monsters and heroic knights, the corruption of evil, and the purification of good. However, stories by their nature, are biased, told by the victors, build around the morals of whoever is telling them. Truly, is there anything less objective, than morality? Mio Golden hair, blue eyes, he fields the weapon of light, the heroic knight of pure, warrior of the righteous… he was a hero, or so the white feline believed, why wouldn’t he be, he was made for it, just look at him, the knight in shining armor, his holy light burning the impure like a hot knife. While not invulnerable, he was unkillable, no blade could cut him, and while he would be shattered in pieces when hit hard enough, he could always pick himself back together. His insides were not made of blood and flesh, but golden crystal as pure as his white fur. What more do you need? What is there to question? Clearly he’s a hero, soul as pure as his creation… Separated from his sister at young age, he was made for this job, trained by the righteous church in name of justice, turned into a holy warrior of the creator….or so he says. The truth is, there’s nothing heroic about him, he is arrogant, narcissistic and unempathetic, anything and anyone he doesn’t like is immoral and impure, yet whatever he does is righteous and pure. He is hypocrisy embodied, an agent of self-interest. He is undying, capable of creating weaponized light, yet, he’s an average fighter at best, after all, why learn when you can’t die? Sure it is painful to shatter, but what is pain but a motivator? But all beings have a weakness, and he is not an exception, for there is two things that can slay him, himself, and someone pure of heart. He had been given everything he could have ever wanted, yet he always wanted more, he was never satisfied. But what about his sister? Mia Mia didn’t remember much of her past, only small flashes, faces with no detail, unfamiliar places that felt familiar, her earliest clear memory was waking up like this, surrounded by hooded figures, chanting in language she didn’t know. She remembered she hadn’t always been like this, she remembered she had been scared, she knew those figures did this to her, she knew they had betrayed her trust. She collapsed on her knees in the water with a cry of pain, since that day she had only known unhappiness, since that day she had been alone. She had tried to be friendly, she had begged, she had bribed, but it always ended up like this. She watched as dark tendrils wrapped around the sword sticking out of her chest, it had barely missed her heart, this was going to hurt. She held tears in as the weapon was pulled out of her, she dug her claws into her thighs as she fought the desire to scream. She threw the sword to the side, feeling as her body fixed itself, she had been stabbed, burned and decapitated, she had been attacked so many times she had lost count, yet she always regenerated, and it always hurt. She looked down at the water, staring at the monster that looked back, she couldn’t remember what she used to look like, was Mia her real name? Had she done something wrong? Did she deserve this? Was this just? No, it couldn’t be just, she was not evil, she didn’t want to hurt anyone, it was self defense, she didn’t want any of it, yet, she couldn't deny, she was a monster. ----

@Props Valroa "That would be the kind of information I'd require payment for, but the fact is, I already told you everything I know." Cinder remarked "I don't care about pony politics, and those who do care generally know those things already, so I've never bothered to figure out any of the names." "And lot of names it would be, for pegasi it would be easy, with them having royal family or whatever, but for the other types? that's a leader per settlement, why bother?" "Only reason why I even know the general styles of leadership they have, is because they have happened to come up in conversations indirectly." "Heh, I don't even know the name of the dragonlord, and I grew up under her rule."

@Props Valroa There was no arguments, Una would nod and look around a bit, until she found a nice corner to lay down in, a bit of an odd choice, but Una didn't really have the need for beds or other such due to not being used to it, in fact, as far as she could remember, she had never slept in a bed, the only place she had slept in before Sombra found her, was the liquid filled tube. If not interrupted, she would fall asleep rather quickly, though this wasn't going to be a calm night for her... The mayor got herself a bit of water to drink, and generally did things you'd expect from somebody who had been woken up in the middle of the night and tried to calm down again, so she was still around for any questions or such, but if Sombra said or did nothing fro a while, she too would head back to bed.

@Blitz Boom I do have a one question, what happens to fire? While dragon fire does have magical aspects to it, at least for Ruby's and Charir's kind, the formation of the fire is still biological, and considering Charir's situation, he will be using said fire to try and break free, so what would that do if anything? Is the stuff fireproof? will it absorb it? Other than that everything is fine.

"It wasn't just us." Jenna reminded "Before things went down, there were people on the internet talking about similar letters." "There was also that one person we saw before entering the portal, I do wonder where they went." "Though if we would have been the only ones, then they would have definitely watched us." "But, I'm still not certain if i believe it could have been the military that did all of it, mainly because it's the military, mysterious letters isn't really their style."

"Currently the only ones...with the means, is the order." Jenna pointed out "Maybe if the rumors of Cobalt...and the underground are true...they could do something." "But it's just rumors...and my contact has been...unable to find anything."

I have mentioned it yes that they are about the same height as a mare, but sometimes one may forget the difference between bipedal and four legged creature (even I sometimes imagine the kobolds bigger than they are ) It's true that from the bottom of the foot on top of the head they are same, but pony still has notably more mass due to having bigger body in other directions. Point being, kobolds are small (and light) enough to ride a pony (somewhat) it's not that I think it's safe, just that those exact situations don't work It's good to remember who they are. They are part of species that is at least bit species-ists, always choosing their own above others, and they have lost enough to be maybe even bit afraid of getting too close to others, and from a place where ponies were not the good guys, so it's not that they are heartless monsters, they have just very high and thick walls around them when it comes to emotional connections. I hadn't planned him to have an adventure of his own, but we could give this a try and see where it goes, I can easily have him visit Manehattan, since I can just say that there is something around there he needs to investigate. However, if at any point you feel like you have to forcibly come up with something to keep things going, then say so, no need to keep it going any longer than it naturally goes.

@Blitz Boom "The headquarters yes, while my unit is an unique one, regular procedures are still followed for now." Solar confirmed, doing both the office duties and the field duties, he couldn't really ensure his own presence for any specific times, so things like this had to go through the headquarters, but eventually he'd have more direct way of recruitment "And before I forget, Good job with Sheez, you chose the right approach." "The more reckless ponies may not think you did, but you can rest knowing you saved lives today." being a guard was a thankless job, so Solar figured he should make his own effort to thank others "And in more practical terms, you made my job lot easier, I thank you for it." -- "There is no all-encompassing answer, as it depends on the oath one follows, but in general yes, the title comes with expectation of certain strengths, and certain obligations." "For me personally it has meant a life of scholarship, as I have spend most of my years studying to hone my abilities." "Healing is only one part of it." "As you are unfamiliar with the term, I should most likely explain the general idea." "In its simplest, a paladin is a knight, who's devotion for the cause is absolute." "It is often religious in nature, but it is not necessarily linked to any being." "As mentioned, life of a Paladin is not universal, but I can tell about my own." "My order was build around justice, the protection of the weak, the destruction of suffering." "I was but a youngling when I became part of all of it, I was chosen by forces outside my understanding, fate leading me to those who were to become my teachers." "My upbringing in the order was as you'd expect from any religious group, however, instead of religion, I learned history, and instead of praying, I learned combat." "My life as a Paladin was rather simple, when I wasn't out there fighting, I sat in the library learning, or was on the yard practicing fighting, I have vowed to fight for justice, so when I wasn't doing that, I spend my time learning how to do it better." "Thus my studies in healing, I am not naive, I know I'm but a single individual, so as time went on, I focused more and more on the small scale, how can I help individuals." "Which brings me to today, with the order gone, with me being the only thing left, my life is different, yet, I am driven by my oath still." "So to answer your question, What does the life of a Paladin entail? It entails the willingness to give your all to work for what you believe, willingness to constantly work on your mind and body to become better..." Myrkr again turned somber "...willingness to carry on, to have faith that even in the deepest darkness, you'll find light." Nerzhei probably didn't expect that kind of response, but she had been right in that Myrkr had nobody to share the weight with, so when he was actually asked about it, he may have gone bit overboard with the answer. -- "I'm alive." was Ruby's response to Leviathan's worry, and while she was as hard to read as always, minus the obvious pain caused by the wound and then Charir's fire, she was very much not 'okay'. Physically she was fine, what was a little cut here and there, and even the burn caused by Charir, since the pony form was not fireproof, was nothing to her, but mentally? She was good at hiding it, but she wasn't nearly as calm as she seemed, she was starting to feel more and more claustrophobic due to lack of room to transform, and thus was staring to feel extremely uncomfortable about being, quite literally, trapped in her own skin. She did not like being this helpless. Leviathan's yelp got both of the other dragons' attention, Charir being more visibly worried, but as they both could see that she wasn't in active danger, and her words told Ruby what had happened, neither of them did anything, Charir wanted to do something, but didn't have the means to, nor time really, as his attention turned back towards the threats themselves. After the yank, Ruby spoke quickly, exhaustion audible from her tone "You already met the one chasing me." she gestured to the priestess "It reanimated some special mummy deer that speaks and can sense us." "Said mummy told the skeletons to bring us to it" she dodged and moved as necessary while she spoke "Have you tried to blow up a wall or a roof or something? if that doesn't work, we are out of options." Ruby was no help with fighting here, only way to do any real damage in this form, needed her to turn her back towards the enemy, which was just simply idiotic to do here, especially since they knew it would do nothing, however, Leviathan wasn't alone in fighting, because Charir still had plenty of energy, and while he knew it was ultimately useless, he rather went down fighting. So Charir went around slashing, mostly legs and the priestess's staff, yes they fixed themselves, but at least they would be out of the fight for that period of time. While useless in fight right at this moment, Ruby still didn't just stand there doing nothing, rather she worked as extra pair of eyes, warning Leviathan and Charir about any incoming hit they may not notice, and if necessarily, even take a hit for one of them, fully aware that in this form that could be quite lethal.

@Cheerilee Depending on Sombra's exact wording, the mayor took a second before understanding the question, but would tell the names of 'Twilight's friends', and where they lived, though she didn't tell the latter for Rainbow, because as she explained, the location changed due to her house being build on clouds, but, she mentioned that you couldn't really miss it, and that it was technically speaking in Ponyville. For the keys, she didn't fully understand the question, but she explained that in simple terms, the locks of the vault and the keys were enchanted so that they would only work when used by right ponies, but otherwise it was just like any lock and key, the locks only worked with those keys, and they keys only worked on those locks.

@Cheerilee "Eh, why would I follow rules when I don't get the benefits from following them?" even if she followed the law of ponies to a T, she would still be an outsider, she still wouldn't get equal treatment, so why bother? "And it doesn't really matter what you pretend to be, you'll have a guard following you everywhere, maybe several due to your size." "I would say that only way to be unnoticed would be to look like an earth pony, but I don't know if that helps either in you case, since you both are way too big for earth pony mares." "Even traders get weird looks, and you don't have even that excuse." "So there is trade between the ponies?" "Yes and no, there isn't active trade per say, but there are travelling merchants of all kinds going everywhere, so the groups trade things indirectly." "However, due to our location, we won't see any of that, the trade happens mostly around the coast, we are inland, and not only that, we come from direction that all traders, and travelers in general, avoid."

@Cheerilee Una just followed silently, nodding in understanding but not having anything to say, while the mayor spoke, first stating that there was no code, and instead it was a combination of keys and magic, so she, or someone else with the right spell put on them, had to be there for the locks to work, and that no, she couldn't do anything to make Sombra one of them. She also mentioned that she had no knowledge on what security the castle may or may not have.

@Cheerilee "Ha!" "No magic needed, I've been dealing with all kinds of creatures and beings for millennia, you learn a trick or two in that time." Noctuna explained "It turns out that all creatures are very predictable if you know what to look for." While she had no real way to tell yet that it was dragons Opaline needed, like she had hinted in her words, she had an idea that Opaline's power wasn't her own, and it was really a matter of elimination what the source was. The first clue was that it was something Opaline knew existed in this world, otherwise she wouldn't have been so certain, a hasty guess would have been ponies, considering her interest in Earth ponies, however, Noctuna didn't believe that to be the case, as the focus on Earth ponies would have been odd, them being the worst source of magic from the ponies, and while the types of ponies had different magics, the difference didn't matter when it came to absorbing it, especially not to an alicorn, since the whole point of them was that they had all the types. "So, if you're so good, what's your take on me?" Cinder asked, curious on Noctuna's judgement on her "You have been bit more careful with your words, but I think I still have a good picture of you." "You're an opportunist, you don't really care what others do, only if it helps or harms you." "Due to your upbringing, you share lot of things with dragons in your mindset, but because of your mistreatment, and the other half of your heritage, you've lost the more brutish parts of their kind." "You don't like how dragons do things, but at the same time, you find ponies boring." "You are honest in that you don't lie, but at the same time, you leave a lot to be untold, however, what you keep secret cannot be used against you." "You do not seek riches or power, but rather, your only goal is enjoyment, and thus, the only reason you're still here, is because you believe it could bring you entertainment." "You are carefree, only focus on things you care about, and are not afraid of much, most likely due to your close call with death earlier in your life, however, you are not careless." "And then the most interesting part, your magic." "You are both pony and dragon, yet you use the magic of neither, you use a different source." "Mutual interests" "That was your response to how you avoided certain death, and that explains it all." "You found something, or someone, and made a deal, which not only saved your life, but gave you power." Cinder clapped few times, "Bravo, though I'm surprised you didn't try to guess any more about the 'something or someone'." "I do not know enough about this world to be sure of the options." "Fair enough."

I don't have specific preferences in that way, however, the twins won't be leaving the town (at least willingly) until 1. Sheska gets that tail prosthesis thing and 2. They are sure that Onache knows what happened with the attacker, so in other words, they are able to tell it to either her or her drone. Other than that, the only preference is that it's someone that makes sense for them to interact with, and probably more importantly, stick with, just as an example, while they don't dislike Shark, i don't think they would actively hang around her for sake of being around her, you know? That's not really it, as I tried to explain in my now reply (as I really didn't know what to do due to Evil pink one not having replied yet), it's more lack of ability over lack of care, sure Sheska does prioritize her own brother over someone she just met, but they do care about Light, like you would care about someone you just met and didn't hate. They aren't exactly close friends yet though. (also Trox is upstairs, so he doesn't even know what's happening.) Ultimately the only thing any of them could have done, is to get someone to help, but there was no need, as the guard appeared anyway. As a sidenote, since I don't know if I have described it well enough in my writing, and in case it has been forgotten (because even I sometimes forget it), here's finally a visual aid on the size of kobolds (average) Basically, they'll be around any time the story goes back to the tavern, until when/if the siblings find a new, more permanent roof over their heads, at which point, the duo will continue their travels. I had some guesses, but with the character's coming together, they aren't as viable. I was really betting on Ruby getting trapped somewhere alone and becoming damsel in distress

@Blitz Boom@Evil Pink One Sheska observed the situation from the stairs as she came down during the latter part of the 'operation', she made a mental note about 'Harvest Mite' for when she got a chance to study this world's medical information, it wasn't that she had never seen creatures who's bite caused hallucinations, but the world of magical creatures was such that even seemingly identical cases could need opposite things to deal with. Not that she would have been able to do much even if she did know what the thing was, as she had no equipment, no medicine and no anti-venom, and at the point of her arrival, it was too late to stop the venom from spreading, so at most she could have paralyzed/numbed Light to stop him from attacking everything, but that could have made things just worse as far as she knew. So really getting him into the hospital was the only option left, and at that point she had no need to be there, as she couldn't do anything to ease the symptoms, and Light was two to three times her body weight at least, that without considering his ability to make himself heavier, so she couldn't help with the transport either. Chega had enough idea to have heard the Creature's name before, but that was about it, she didn't know how they would be dealt with, until now, so there hadn't been anything she could have done to help, as much as it hurt to watch, she was a bard, not much a song or clever wording did in this type of situation, and she lacked the physical strength, or mass in that matter, to be help in that aspect either, in fact, it would have taken just one poorly aimed kick from Light to kill here there and then, so she rather didn't take the risk. -- "Undying creature could indeed be useful." Solar stated in humorously dry manner, "And I'll look into this 'O.M.I' whenever I get a change." the first thing he probably should get was a secretary, all the literal paperwork was eating so much time. Before ending up here, his 'paperwork' went automatically to his commanders in real time, he hadn't touched actual paper since joining the military. "I'll be returning to Canterlot right away after I'm done here." "Which actually reminds me, since you are most likely one of the first ones around if anything involving the kobold twins happens here again, that requires guard attention, I feel it's important for you to know who you are dealing with." "I don't know what kind of experience you have already had with them, but if you haven't already, you may notice certain hostility from them." "Try to not let it get to you, where they come from, where I come from, we guards aren't a symbol of safety for them, quite the opposite actually, Sheez is what guards are to them, just to paint you a picture, Sheez was outcasted by the entire species for joining the military. And I do mean, the entire species. Not for the lives she took, not for the homes she destroyed, but for associating herself with the guard." "The guard, Pony guard specifically, is to them a symbol of suffering, there's a reason why I have gotten something thrown at me almost every time I've shown up." he said the last part with bit of humor in his tone. -- Myrkr wasn't in a hurry, even his travel companions had stopped, be it a bit of a distance away, so he answered the question "I believe the term used is Paladin." "I am, or should I say, was, a part of an order." "I'm the last remaining member." He sounded slightly somber, before smiling "Don't worry though, I won't preach your ears off, it's not that kind of order." ----------------------------- Ruby wasn't in the correct mindset to notice the lack of resistance, however, if she would have, her conclusion would have been that the skeletons just didn't have much strength to use the weapons, after all, she had seen in the raising ritual exactly that, skeletons may be never tiring, but without muscle, there's only so much you can do. She didn't really even think about her injury, before the before mentioned pause in the room, as adrenaline, or equivalent of it, did its job keeping her running. Since things happened the moment she picked up the gold, she forgot the whole burning the wound shut thing, tossing the gold down on the ground and backing up from the mist, the skeletons weren't her biggest worry here, as even she knew enough about dark magic to not test it out, and having seen similar mist rising the dead, she didn't really want to know what it would do to the living. So she didn't take the risk, and continued moving past the room. However, even if she would have stayed to be engulfed by the mist, the effects of it would have stayed a mystery to her, as she was not an active magic user, the only magic she used was the one keeping her in the pony form, and spells to seal things, the latter not being useful in fights until the enemy was wearing something that can be opened and closed, and the former not really being her doing spells as much as it was leashing her inner magic to the task. There was of course the weird fire magic, but she had no idea how to use that, since it had only ever happened once. Now that she was aware of her wound, it suddenly hurt notably more, and while it hadn't hit anything vital, it made running quite a chore, and Ruby started to actively wish for a room, any room, with enough space for her to shed the pony form, she still didn't feel fear, but being in this form was getting seriously suffocating, and that feeling was great enough that she didn't even notice that Charir's jewelry was getting closer to her. -- Charir did try to set the deer on fire, after seeing Leviathan's demeanor, he could tell that she didn't see this as a friendly creature, and it wasn't just regular fire either, it was especially hot for fire, even dragon fire, so, when he saw the thing unfazed, he was both annoyed, and bit scared, he was out of weapons. He didn't hesitate fleeing, and for the skeletons they met in the way? if leviathan didn't blast them fast enough, he simply flew over them, he was small, and was used to moving in small spaces, so if there was a cap anywhere between skeletons and a wall or roof, he'd go through no problem, and if not? he'd go through. -- When they met, the reactions were...mixed, Charir was happy to see Ruby, be it surprised, while Ruby wasn't as happy to see them, because she knew what it meant, and she let out frustrated words, they were in her native language, but it very much sounded like cursing. She then told Charir something, after which he, after very short hesitation, walked next to Ruby, and breath fire at her wound, making Ruby flinch a bit. Ruby spoke towards Leviathan, out of breath from all the running "So we are trapped."

"You really keep... overestimating my capabilities." Jenna stated "Besides, I'll be out of the game...for a while now." "We are fast healers...but there's a limit in everything." she wasn't going to fight anyone when even talking hurt.

"What doesn't the military know?" Jenna pointed out "If anyone would know about those like us, it would be the government, right?" "They have all the FBIs and CIAs and whatever else." "But if they have been watching us...maybe?" "It is not a pleasant thought, but they do have all of our information." "Though even if they didn't know about us before, they do now, since no doubt whatever the source of information for the portals was, also told about those like us."

@Props Valroa The mayor commented that coins in a metal room probably won't burn, but it will take a while to dig it out from the rubble. At this point the weather team had gathered enough clouds, and they moved them above the building, staring the rain, though at the same time, the building collapsed. Una tilted her head a bit at this though, as she could swear she had heard the sound of wood shattering a bit before it, had Flint done something to cause the collapse? The rain put out the fire relatively quickly after this, though they let it rain bit longer to make sure the water went all the way down, nothing interesting happened after this, in fact, the lack of things was the more curious part, as Flint was nowhere to be seen or heard, was she under the rubble? or had she slipped away? Una couldn't feel her anymore, but she no longer trusted that to be an accurate way to tell if she was around or not. Una would follow as gestured.

@Props Valroa "So be it." Noctuna stated "But you have given me lot more than you may think." "You are clearly a narcissist, as your ego makes you believe plainly contradictory things." "Things like your plans being perfect, even though someone managed to get past them." "You also, be it intentionally or not, try to signal your authority through things like body language, which is a sign of insecurity, as those truly in control, don't need to do that." "You also half-threatened me, yet you absolutely refuse to prove your abilities, and not only that, you haven't done anything to stop us from following you, even though it's obvious you dislike it." "So my judgement? Those you call your enemies took away your power in more ways than one, the reason you are so secretive, is because you have no capabilities, you are weak, just like your shadows." "You're egoistical Alicorn, who believes that it's destiny for our kind to rule, who believes that you deserve to rule just for being an Alicorn." "So, only thing you know, is ruling through power, but oh no, you had your power taken away, which implies that your power was also taken from somewhere or something." "Which is why you are so secretive, as you believe that everyone is like you, and thus, believe that if you were to be honest, we would not only turn against you, but actively stop you." "You believe that I am plotting against you, because you would plot against yourself." "You believe trust was the mistake you made, while to me it sounds that your mistake was forgetting that alliance goes both ways." "I'll make this clear so there's no questions, I follow you, because I have nothing better to do, and I will keep following you, until I either find something better to do, or you manage to make me stop. It is fully up to you if I am an ally or an enemy, but be warned, unlike you, I can actually stand behind my threats." As she said the last part, Cinder could swear the night's shadow got darker around them for a moment, even the snake around her neck woke up, wrapping around her tighter as if it was nervous about something. However, there was no change in Noctuna's voice or body language, it was the same confident yet nonchalant demeanor she had had the whole time. In the distance then end of the dead zone started to be visible, turning into a field of colorful flowers, a nice change from the boring and colorless wasteland, though what delighted Noctuna more was the amount of unclaimed shadows, so many shadow creatures without a queen to bow to, be it small ones for now, though due to her connection to darkness, she could also sense something non-shadowy moving among the plants, a lot of something.

@Blitz Boom@Evil Pink One As Light started to fight things, Chega moved behind something bit more solid to avoid it, while Sear took a position to keep her safe, Sheska meanwhile skillfully dodged anything that may have flown in her way while she got the water, this was more what she was used to with her work on the battlefields, dealing with things while avoiding getting hit herself. Sheska ran upstairs again, though this time she would come back down pretty quickly, after two minutes or so. Sear agreed to help, though considering that Shark took care of the whole holding Light in place thing, she was there mostly to add extra weight, and if needed, to hold a specific spot in place, she didn't say anything, or really even emote, holding a determined and serious expression on her face, the same one she had had this whole time, sure it was somewhat emotionally painful situation to watch, but it wasn't in her style to get emotional. -- "The exact requirements are still under work, but to put it bluntly, anyone with nothing to lose are welcome." "Due to the nature of the threats, we'll need those who are capable and willing to sacrifice everything for it, so if one has family, or anything else they could lose, they should look elsewhere." "They also need to be mentally strong, as in worst case scenario, the things they will see is beyond your understanding of horrible." "Outside combat, anyone with knowledge about magical, technological or other such things, that you don't find in any textbooks, that some would call crazy, should also be directed to our way, because when fighting things outside one's normal understanding, you need tools and weapons outside that understanding too." "Truthfully speaking, our main obstacle is equipment, there has been a boost in development thanks to what I myself know, and few other sources, but it will take a while before we have unit worth of required hardware." "Thankfully, while they were unwilling to join, the two dragons you just saw are willing to help, buying us enough time to eventually have a proper way to deal with these things." -- "I am Brother Myrkr, it's nice to meet you." Myrkr responded, as he held his hand above Nerzhei's, a faint glow in his eyes indicating use of magic, though nothing happened yet, as he was just checking the injury "I'm only a beginner in healing, but I believe I can do something." He put his hands together, before pulling them apart slowly above Nerzhei's arm, and as he did this, the swelling would subside, not heal entirely, but get notably better, and same with the pain, the injury would still clearly be there, but the pain would have gotten bit lesser. "Did that help? You should still keep taking care of it as you have, as the damage is still there, but the swelling shouldn't get as bad anymore." While he did all this, if Nerzhei paid attention, she would be able to get a glance inside Myrkr's robe's sleeves, where one would see what could best be described as some kind of skintight metal armor, the only reason why one would be able to tell it wasn't wasn't actually part of him, was the fact that it ended at his wrists, and there you could see it being a separate layer from his scales. On top of that, on the top-side of his arm, there was a thicker, bronze colored piece of armor. -------------------------------------------- Ruby didn't really think much when the route sloped down, nor did she start wondering why it turned and climbed again, mostly because she was starting to think about her own situation, she could hear the priestess keeping up, she also knew that this sudden turn and uphill was bound to slow her down, but most importantly, she realized, that she had the weakness of being alive. She had been running this whole time, and while she had good stamina, that was in her real form, she was currently only barely bigger than her lungs alone normally, and in general this body lacked lot of things that made it possible for her to keep going for hours. She could feel the need to stop and catch her breath, as this form couldn't keep up with how much air she needed, her legs were starting to hurt, as they lacked the usual agility she had, and the hooves had no grip on the hard floor, so every turn and hill slowed her down, she really needed a space where she could ditch the pony form, if she wanted to have any hope to lose her pursuer. And then one of the things she had worried about happened, she was cut off, and they had weapons, which usually wasn't a concern to her, but unlike her real form, the pony form was very much vulnerable to metal, and while infections weren't something she worried about, an injury of any kind would slow her down even more. She didn't want to smash through them directly, as she hadn't tested it yet and didn't know how much it would slow her down if even possible, but she also didn't slow down, meaning that she instead did her best to avoid them, however, she did cut herself on one of the spears, and it just had to hit her back leg, so while it didn't slow her down right away, it did make running just that bit more inconvenient, which showed itself in the next sharp turn, as she stumbled with the turn, and hit the fall sideways before managing to keep going. It didn't stop her, or really even slow her down hugely, but it was quite the painful hit for her already tiring body. When she arrived to the room, she slowed down, she noticed the treasure, and made a mental note of the room, as she had good enough sense of direction to know the route she had taken there, however, looting treasure had left her mind at this point, as the whole thing had become more about survival, She almost just continued on, but a sting from the wound made her look at it, and she realized it was deep enough to bleed, and thus would cause her trouble if she didn't do anything to it. So, thinking quick, she took whatever was the biggest piece of gold she could get, heated it up in the fire, and pressed it against the wound to burn it shut. After that, what she did depended on few things, if any kind of trap had been activated from her doing that, she would react to that to best of her ability, and if the priestess was close enough to catch up to her, she would get ready to try and fight it, if neither of those happened, she would continue running, though she couldn't keep up the same speed much longer. -- Charir was bit annoyed to see that even the weapons repaired themselves, he kept finding himself in situations where he couldn't do anything it seemed, maybe his mother had some truth behind her words after all, he was useless, but unlike was his mother's intention, his conclusion was that he needed to make sure he'd stop being useless, though that was if he actually made it out of this first. When he saw the state of the front door, he was considering to blast it with fire, since that's how Leviathan had gotten rid of it from her claw before, but seeing her reaction, and lack of action, he decided against it assuming she knew something he didn't. What came to the newcomer, Charir still followed Leviathan's example, so he didn't do anything sudden, however, for obvious reasons he didn't exactly trust this thing, and seeing it still had flesh, meant that it could burn. So, as he backed away with Leviathan, he took a defensive pose and started letting smoke out of his nostrils, some of it coming out of his mouth too as he exposed bit of his teeth too.