Catpone Cerberus

@Props Valroa In what thoughts she had among the inner conflict, Una had figured the effort to make things natural to be worth it, not just because she thought that somebody may just happen stumble upon it at some point, but also because wild animals would most likely come across it, and they may do lot of things, including dig the ground that smelled like blood. There was also the potential of the unexpected, this forest was weird, it was filled with darkness that was magical in nature, she had no idea how, if in any way, that energy would interact with blood, or maybe there were creatures living there that were more than wild animals, that could tell the ponies. Honestly, with how weird the forest felt, she wouldn't have been surprised if the body came back to live eventually. She got her stuff and once again covered herself with clothing, maybe next time they study magic, she should learn illusion magic to give herself a disguise; she may have been unable to control her own appearance, but there was no reason why she wouldn't be able to hide it under a fake appearance. She followed Sombra, not saying anything, the coldness started to fade slowly but surely as they went, and she was also getting her mind back into control, but she suspected that the next time she slept, it would be an interesting time in her dreams, as this would no doubt come up, assuming what she saw in her dreams before wasn't just random stuff.

@Props Valroa Seeing Opaline's confusion, Noctuna addressed it even though Opaline had said nothing about it "I could explain things lot better, go through 1000 years of history." "But you don't seem to me like someone with patience." "If it was up to me, I'd take a nap, it has been a very long night for me." she spoke casually, she didn't care to, and had no reason to hold up some regal act, and what came to Opaline, she was equal to her at best, so she got no special treatment from her, and while she was wary of her like one should of any stranger, she didn't show it as clearly, or well, not at all, which may have made her seem trusting. She moved around as she spoke, touching the pool of liquid as she passed it, and generally just touching and looking at things in the room "To me it would make sense if this place was just a lifeless wasteland, I got here through banishment spell after all, a fitting punishment to a target of such spell." "However, that is not the case, as we are not alone..." she then suddenly turned her glance towards a spot "...are you a local by any chance?" she asked, and after not getting an answer, she continued "Yes, I know you are there, you really think you can hide in the shadows, from the queen of shadows?" "Fair enough" came the answer, as Cinder realized the ruse was up, and she walked to view, spinning the crystal blade in her fingers skillfully. At a first glance, one could mistake her for a dragon, but right away the impression would break, because while she was build like bipedal dragon, that's where the dragon-ness stopped, she was covered in fur instead of scales, her wings were feathered, and most importantly, her head was that of a pony instead of a dragon, though her teeth and eyes were a combination of both. "Aren't you a fascinating creature." "So are you a local or not?" "Yes and no, I'm local to this world, but not this area." "No, I have no idea why you are here, and no, I don't know why this forest is dead." Cinder spoke in casual manner, though there was a certain hint in her voice, that told rather clearly that she wasn't the kind to bow to anyone, it wasn't that she was being disrespectful, it was more she was done with trying to please others. Her body language also mirrored this, along with the armor and weapon, or at least to Noctuna those told that to her, she almost didn't notice the snake sleeping on Cinder's shoulders.

@Props Valroa "Oh, you're one of those." Noctuna remarked, less as a response, and more just thinking aloud; it wasn't that she had seen lot of Alicorns like Opaline, in fact, she hadn't seen a single alicorn since she fled Equestria, but she was very familiar with the....personality type "You are all the same." that part she muttered to herself, she wasn't judging Opaline per say, sure it sounded like they disagreed on few things, but she wasn't interested in starting another war, it was more that she believed Opaline to be blind to reality. "You flatter me." Noctuna stated, sounding amused "You overestimate my importance, I'm not the leader of the night, I'm more like...the zookeeper." "It was to be my job to keep the beings that inhabit darkness at bay, everything from regular wolves to embodiments of nightmares." she moved to look out of a window too "And Luna... that's a name I haven't heard in a long time, heh, those were the good times, times forgotten by most, wiped from history." she looked towards Opaline "To me there was no question about it in the first place, that our origin is different, because where I come from, somebody like you would have died before you ever gained power." she seemingly randomly glanced around the room, but Cinder suddenly felt off, this pony, this...Alicorn was it they called themselves? she had looked straight at her, into her eyes, did she know she was here? if yes, why didn't she say or do anything?

@Props Valroa Una missed Sombra's non-verbal reactions, as she was focused on her own shock, it wasn't that she was feeling some kind of moral distress about it, rather it was just very disgusting to her, though even that wasn't the main problem, the main problem, which horrified her, was the disconnect between her actions and her own will, or well, the will she considered her own, since she could feel the others too, she could feel the part of her mind that was happy about her approach. The cackle snapped Una out of the deep corners of her mind, but her displeasure towards her own actions was visible on her face...most of the time, because every time the appearance went through the draconic form, be it an eye or the mouth, the displeasure was replaced with satisfaction, satisfaction that was once again wiped away when the scales went away. But, if Una had to pick something positive out of it, at least Sombra seemed to enjoy it, meaning she didn't screw things up. She watched Sombra show his own way of doing things, but didn't really focus on it, partly because it didn't really matter, since she couldn't do the same anyway, and partly because she was still distracted by herself, and when Sombra told her to bury, she did just that, she was almost robotic as she did, and her emotions? she was cold as an icy rock, she had entered the same state she had been in when shown Sombra's memories, though this time she was thankful for it, because otherwise she would have probably just screamed. She started by removing the ground that had been painted red by the last minutes and throwing it in the hole, no point hiding a body if you were going to leave a pool of blood next to it. Rest she filled with the ground she had originally dug up, and the material that was left over, she used to make things look as natural as possible, before discarding her makeshift shovel.

I was specifically talking about the part of the RP that your character is not in, where I left my character's fate to Blitz's hands, however... I'm going to specify bit more just in case, since we have already seen that my non-native English isn't always understood right. If there's a obstacle, and my character tries to get past it in a way that doesn't really make sense for said obstacle, like trying to go through a hole that they wouldn't reasonably fit through, then the creator of that hole, in this case Blitz, can go "yeah that's not possible.". It does not mean that ones should meta themselves around a problem, if something is said to be created for sole purpose of countering magic for example, you can't create something to out magic it. To use Ruby as an example again, it has been stated that her claws can cut metal, thus putting her into a normal steel cage will never stop her, however, putting her in a magic cage would, because she has no previously stated capabilities to combat that. However, it needs to make sense for the magic cage to exist, having someone who normally uses metal cages use one on her randomly without knowing that she can in fact cut through metal, would make no sense, and thus be meta gaming. The main point of the reminder was to give a direct permission to Blitz to harm my characters if he feels it would make things more interesting/fun, with of course the limit of reason, and with good enough explanation why they cannot reasonably avoid it. So to return to you @Evil Pink One I have no clue what these "changeling crystals" are, but if you were to explain what they were, where they come from, and how they are used, in the post itself, and it made sense, then go ahead, even if I don't see why your character would randomly do that.

@Props Valroa Noctuna blinked and was quiet for a second before speaking "Oh, yeah, it has been a while since I had to introduce myself." she took a more regal pose, cleared her throat, and spoke with equally regal voice "I am Queen Noctuna, the queen of all that resides in the shadows of night, and the founder, the rightful ruler, and the destroyer of New Equestria, the last sanctuary of pony kind's freedom." she didn't open her wings or otherwise try to signal power, but everything from how she said the introduction signaled authority and confidence, this was someone who believed she deserved her title, and she was ready to fight for it. "And I don't see dead forest as too much of a weird thing, what is more off, is that the shadows in the forest are empty, that is unusual, usually areas marked with death have the strongest shadows." Cinder was curious about what Opaline tried to do, but obviously wasn't going to ask since she was hiding, and Noctuna, while she hadn't seen this exactly, she was aware of the concept of magical pools of liquid used for various things from spying on creatures to casting spells. She used to have something similar but she got rid of it because it was easier to just ask the shadows. "Speaking of shadows." Noctuna walked close enough to Opaline to speak directly in her ear "Yours have grown weak."

"And those eyes." Jenna said, sounding almost scared "You know how....it's said that life...leaves the eyes?" "It's true." "Yet, those things...had no life in them...in the first place." she looked into the direction the fight had taken place "They had no pigment....no unique smell...no feeling of pain....those things were not...dragons." "They didn't even have...that crazed look...that those gone feral have." she looked towards the sky "Whatever they are...it's bad news..."

"I didn't think of it through that lens but you're right." Jenna agreed "While time isn't literally frozen, since we can move and stuff, things do certainly seem frozen in time." "And I now understand why the local Jenna seemed to lose her mind, can you imagine, being trapped here alone?"

@Blitz Boom In light of my last reply, I remind you that you don't need to hold up plot armor for my characters if you want for example Ruby to get in trouble where she'll need help, go ahead, I'll naturally come up with attempts on how she tries to avoid things, but don't fear just going "nope" and having her fail. Especially in this situation, where magic is clearly part of things, in case you have forgotten with all the magic talk, her kind has no natural resistance to magic in itself, so if anything in this RP, this place would be one where she could have genuine trouble.

@Blitz Boom@Evil Pink One The outside event continued uninterrupted, as Solar joined the conversation "Think your next move carefully Sheez, we understand your anger, but it's over, these ponies had nothing to do with it." "Think with your own brain, you're but a pawn to those you claim to go against." "We all were." "It's time to retire, the war is over, you've done your part." the female dragon stepped forwards "If you want blood, I am the only one here who was there back then, I was there when we invaded your kind's homes, I watched as your kind was enslaved, I was part of all of it, no other creature in this world was involved." "And I take full responsibility for my crimes, do you?" "We all have blood in our hands, and hooves, none of us can ever wash it away, but we can make sure it never happens again." Sheez finally spoke again "What happened to you?" she asked, looking at the covered dragon "Since when have you been this...humble?" "I was given perspective, shown the truth by one of your kind, and now I'm offering that truth to you. It's all pointless, always was." the covered dragon then said something in different language, it didn't mean anything to anyone around, but it was very much familiar to Solar, as it was the message he had asked the twins to translate for him, the one about tyrants drowning in blood. "Those were her last words, and I saw the meaning behind them myself, it's over, the empires will fall, if they haven't fallen already, will you let them die?" Silence fell over the group for a while, until Sheez addressed Solar, loudly "Pony, let your princesses know, that if they ever as much as consider touching my kind, I'll slaughter every creature with hooves on this planet!" "Other than that, I'm done, now leave me alone." she then just...left, and the two dragons walked after her. Solar let out a relieved sigh "Thank the sun, I was really worried there for a second." if he would have had a heart, it would be beating far beyond it's normal function. Sheska and Trox didn't react to the others trying to get involved, for obvious reasons, but Chega, after exchanging some words with Sheska, addressed Shark and Light, starting with Shark "Physically he's fine, mentally...." she thought about how Shark would understand "He has been through lot of pain, and he was reminded of all of it at the same time." it was bit more complicated than that, but Shark probably wouldn't understand it fully, and frankly speaking, it wasn't really any of her business, if Trox wanted to open up about it himself, he would do so. "It's not something you can help with, or I." Behind her, Sheska stopped talking, and wrapped Trox into a hug, positioning herself as a physical barrier between him and the world, and Trox just, broke down, not that it was easy to tell, as Sheska was blocking the view of his face, and he didn't make any sound, but his body language along other small signs showed it to anyone who could read those. "And Light, nobody expected you to be any use, not because of anything about you, but because she just is that dangerous, Sheska and Trox said as much." "Only thing you can be critiqued about is not thinking, you heard what kind of world they came from, to think that someone who has survived in that world for lifetimes, would be brought down by a single pony, is sheer arrogance." being a bard. Chega knew all about that, that's why she didn't sing about individual heroes, she didn't want to feed the ego of 'heroes', she wanted to inspire others. --------- Charir looked down into the hole, tilting his head as he tended to do, so these things were stupid, good, even less of a threat then, one could excuse the first ones to fall in if they accidentally triggered the trap, but just walking into an open hole? even prey animals weren't that stupid. He didn't even consider the possible treasure down there though, as funnily enough, treasure wasn't on his mind, he was lot more focused on the adventure, this was all so new to him, that his greed took a backseat. He didn't jump down, and instead skillfully went over the hole, due to the terrain in the homelands, he was used to avoiding sudden drops, even in small, dark spaces. His attention turned to the glowing crystals in the ceiling, they were pretty, so he liked looking at them, the lighting situation didn't even cross his mind, as he could see well in the dark as long as it wasn't literally pitch black, and even then, he could just breath a small flame to see. He of course also kept his eye on the skeletons, even if seemingly he was fully focused on the pretty crystals, so when they did their...tendril thing, he tensed up and prepared, but didn't attack, as he kept an eye on what Leviathan did, doing what she did, and he also was more defensive fighter in general, due to being so small, he really couldn't afford starting fights. The following of example went for their next direction too, as Charir left the choice of direction to Leviathan, however, his glance went between the two directions the skeletons went, as they still interested him even after the assumed scare attempt, and due to his curiosity being more than his greed, he didn't really even think in what direction treasure would be. Ruby stepped back when the skeletons did their thing, but didn't attack, not because she necessarily wasn't planning to, but because she was so focused on dodging a possible incoming attack, which never came, at which point it was her time to tilt her head, curious, and quite worrying, this thing smelled more rotten than walking dead, maybe she had been right after all, this was a trap, and they had walked into it, even if it wasn't necessarily meant for them. However, it was too late for that, they had already sprung the trap, and she couldn't lie, she was curious to see how it worked. She followed the skeletons in, and while she could tell they led her to a different direction than what the others had went, due to their scent disappearing, she kept following, ignoring the cursed thoughts and feelings trying to convince her that she cared about the two other dragons, they would handle themselves, in fact, due to the small spaces of this place, she was the one who should be concerned, sure they didn't stop her from transforming and fighting, but there was a genuine risk of death if the walls didn't give away, though it was still preferable to dying in this form. She looked around the room she arrived in, if nothing else, these deer had taste, she watched the skeletons be sucked up, and muttered under her breath "Well that's certainly a way to transport skeletons" but she didn't get too close, as she didn't want to know what would happen if someone with flesh went near it. So that left the door, or turning back, so obviously she chose the door, but she did say out loud that she was going to regret it, before taking off the box from her back, and carrying it in her mouth to make herself slightly smaller, after which she went through the door. She tried to be careful, going through whatever was the biggest cap, but if she managed depended on how exactly the bones were positioned, she was agile, but she wasn't as agile in this body as she was in her real form, so if it was a small hole that required lot of balancing, she probably wouldn't make it through without touching something, but if it was a pony sized hole that you could just leap through, it would go fine. Ultimately she would go through though, so if necessary, she would just break bones out of her way.

@Props Valroa Sombra wasn't the only one to have a feeling, Una could feel the forest's danger, it had darkness, but it was yet again different, it was more similar to the one in Nightmare Moon's helmet, than it was to Sombra, but it was also very unique, this forest wasn't a normal forest, it was unnaturally dark....it made sense now, she had wondered why the town seemed to be a victim to so much stuff, but this explained it, the town was next to a hot spot of darkness. So it was a test, Una realized when Sombra said his order, of course. She took off the clothes she used to hide her appearance, didn't want to get them dirty, would make her look more suspicious. then she looked around to find something to dig with, deciding on piece of wood that was big and sturdy enough, then, with her magic, and using a stone to hammer the wood deeper, she dug a hole that was more deep than wide, but was big enough for a pony...it wasn't like it needed to be comfortable. As she dug, her mind was running in regards of the next task, but not for the reason one may think. It wasn't that there was some moral feeling going against it, the conflict was more on how to do it, as the three different opinions made an appearance again. There was the middle one, that she considered her own, the neutral one, which wanted to get it over with without any unnecessary hassle, but then there were the two others, one feeling disgust, wanting to keep things clean and quick, and the other, enthusiastic, violent, and....craving? Was her mouth watering? This inner conflict didn't stay entirely inside either, as while Una didn't do or say anything besides just digging the hole, the action itself got slightly more aggressive, and the darkness that had been present in her after the helmet situation, bubbled up again, making her aura just that bit more dark. Then there was of course the deed itself, after she was done with the hole, assuming Sombra didn't interrupt her, she stood above the sleeping mare, she wasn't hesitating, but she was considering her options. She could just snap the neck, that was clean and relatively simple, there were lot of rocks around, she could use those to smash the skull, simple, bit more messy, she din't have a blade, but her horn and various things around were sharp, so that was an option, still simple, even more messy, she could also...no she couldn't that was weird, very messy and gross, why would she....but it was so intriguing, so delici...no, what, that wasn't her, she didn't think that. The rogue thoughts had now become voices in her head, her ear started twitching, she had to give conscious effort to not tell them to shut up out loud...and then she couldn't remember what happened. What happened from outside perspective, would be her standing there for some seconds, her ear twitching suddenly, then her constantly shifting appearance froze, with the golden dragon scales being the one covering most of her face, her both eyes orange with slit pupils of a dragon, she grinned, and suddenly lunged at the sleeping mare, teeth sinking in her throat, the end result was....messy. After...eating a piece, Una backed up, still grinning, but then her appearance started shifting, she turned shocked, and started coughing and spitting like in disgust "Wha- Why?" she tasted it, she smelled it, she could feel it on her constantly shifting face, blood, she hated it, it was awful, she went to the dirt pile she had dug up, and started rubbing herself with the dirt to get the blood off, it was so gross "Why did I do it like that!" she had done what Sombra had told her to sure, but even Sombra probably didn't mean like that.

@Props Valroa "Ha!" Noctuna laughed, Opaline's attempts to show her power was either ignored or went unnoticed by the visitor, as Noctuna met her eyes with her own, bloodshot eyes, she had had a helluva night, and it showed, she looked like she had been through war, which she had, an hour or so ago. "Sorry to disappoint dear colleague, but I have no idea who you are." "I don't belong here either, I banished myself and poof, I was here, I was hoping you would know where 'here' is, but it sounds like you don't." "But I can tell you one thing, it's rarely about what somebody deserves, I was supposed to live in peace, in middle of nowhere, studying magic and dying of old age, yet here I am, over thousand years later talking to you after burning down my own nation I never wanted to create." her eye twitched "Fate has an awful taste of humor." Cinder stayed hidden for now, this was getting interesting, so she didn't want to interrupt yet, she also wanted to wait and see if things stayed peaceful, she was capable herself sure, but she didn't want to get between a pony fight, especially when she didn't know what they could do.

@Props Valroa Una wasn't one to scream when startled, so staying quiet wasn't a problem, but being suddenly grabbed by magic did startle her, and she clearly didn't like it. But while there was no problems with the whole lifting her out, Sombra may have, or may have not, depending on how much he focused in such things, noticed a tiny bit of his magic getting taken from the spell, as in, the spell was a tiny bit weaker than the magic he put into it. It was small amount, maybe even insignificant amount, but it was more than one could explain with natural loss of energy. Una said nothing, but she felt like pointing out that she had wings, she also watched Sombra do his smoke thing again, which made her confused about the whole possessing thing again, but as she knew nothing about possession, she just decided it was better for her mind to try to ignore it, as she clearly didn't understand how things worked. She watched Sombra grab the orange pony and carry her with ease, so she didn't need to carry her after all? so why was she here again? to open a window? She didn't know which was worst, that, or the fact that Sombra needed someone to open a window for him. She followed him without making any of this known, she felt the unknown thoughts in her mind again, maybe she should sit down and listen to them at some point, they just may have a point.

@Props Valroa Cinder knew the owner was back, when she heard the slam of a hoof, followed by shouting, she wasn't close enough to really make out what it was that was said, as it had echoed one too many times to stay clear, and even with her better than average hearing, she was just out of range to hear the original source. She did however, make out the tone of the shouting, and she whispered to the now sleeping snake "Dragon's temper too." it may have been odd to judge a pony's character based on dragons, but that was the only real point of reference she had, she had met ponies sure, but they had always been suspicious of her at best, hostile at worst, so she had never really gotten a good feel of the types there, meanwhile dragons she were very familiar with, because her adoptive parents were dragons, and in general her young years had been spent among dragons in good and bad, mostly bad. She quietly made her way towards the sound's origin, though it wasn't hard to guess where the owner would be going even without all the noise, as those with throne rooms tented to like being in them. One of the blessings of being half-dragon, was the anatomy she had inherited from her predator side, because it allowed her to move quietly, and her bipedal build allowed her to hide behind corners and in the shadows easier, due to being able to make herself flatter and being able to take weirder positions without losing balance. She could also just make herself invisible, she knew the spells, but where was the fun in that? But she didn't need to worry about getting caught for now, as just about when she had gotten close enough to peek into the throne room, a metallic bang came from the direction of the balcony, as certain alicorn landed there with not intent of staying hidden, walking in like she owned the place. She had seen Opaline return home, and decided to forget the plan of not being rude by entering through the main door, and instead just followed the assumed owner of the place, after putting her outfit on first of course. At least she didn't fly through a window. Noctuna would after landing start walking towards where Opaline was, she could sense her shadow, and it wasn't hard to tell where she was either, as she was purposely slamming her steps slightly more than usual, causing the metallic shoes make a noticeable sound every step. "What kind of castle is this? Where's the security?!" she asked, very loudly. This would go on until she saw Opaline, be it in the throne room, or earlier if Opaline decided to go investigate before she reached it, at which point she'd smile and look at her curiously "Hi. Are you a princess or a queen?" Cinder watched from the shadows, following Opaline if she decided to go investigate, wasn't this interesting, two overgrown ponies, she didn't actually know what an Alicorn was, but could tell this was somewhat special, based on the the fact that she had never seen ponies like this. One detail on the intruder caught Cinder's eye , the cutie mark, she couldn't see much from the angle she was in, but she could swear it looked more like a scar than a mark, which she did know was very unusual. There was similar type of scarring in Noctuna's legs, but Cinder couldn't see it as the shoes covered it from that angle. And that mane, it looked like it had the night sky in it, she had never seen anything like that before, and did she have personal wind or something? as the mane and tail seemed to move constantly on their own.

"That or a pipe burst or something." Jenna agreed "It takes only a small fault when there's nobody to turn off the pressure." "Though then again, if there was pressure, it would still be rising wouldn't it?" "So you're probably right." After they had walked a short moment, Jenna spoke "I just realized something, have you noticed? the temperature?" "It's odd isn't it?" "It's not cold, or even cool, but I wouldn't say it's especially warm either." "It's like it's neutral, bland, like everything else here, just constant sameness." Constant even darkness, the same smell everywhere, the temperature felt same everywhere, the absolute silence, it was quite awful when you noticed it, was this why her local version had lost her mind? She was suddenly very glad that she wasn't alone.

Jenna pressed several places on her body with her leg, sometimes flinching and/or groaning from pain, she also looked at few of her wounds that she could get a clear view of. "Those things...did a number on me." she tried to smile, but a flinch took the smile off her face "Bastards took my shoulder...luckily they didn't hit the...important nerves." "I'm gonna be stuck like this for a while...transforming to a human would...kill me instantly." she walked on dry land and sat down "What were those things?" "I've never seen...or heard of something...like those things."

@Blitz Boom @Evil Pink One "Isn't that kind of her, usually she goes directly to slaughter." Solar remarked, unbothered by the threat "But I assure you, if something goes wrong, there's nobody left to court-martial." not exactly the most comforting thing to say, but it was true, he personally couldn't do anything to Sheez either, she to him was like he was to the regular guard, that's why he had brought others. It was also his way of saying 'over my dead body', because in all his flaws, his determination for his cause was unwavering. Meanwhile the two dragons walked towards Sheez, and Sheez, after a moment of silence and a one more look at the siblings, in quick movement, took off the collars and said something to the two, before turning her back to them and facing the dragons. The twins didn't attack this time, instead, Sheska ran to Trox who was still standing in place, shaking, and started gently guiding him towards the tavern, all the anger had seemingly left her, as everything from her face to her body language showed only care and worry for Trox, who seemed to be having some kind of emotional breakdown going on. When they got close enough to the tavern to not be close to Sheez anymore, Chega, who alongside with Sear, for various reasons, had done and said nothing during all this other than observing the situation, suddenly pushed past Sear and ran outside, joining Sheska worrying about Trox, and the two practically carried Trox inside, and sat him down on the stairs, both talking to him, the words again wouldn't be understood by others, but the manner was comforting and caring, all the while Trox was relatively unresponsive, seemingly focusing on keeping his emotions in control, as he looked like he was going to either explode or break down. Meanwhile outside, a conversation took place once again "If it isn't the inferno-general herself, it has been a while hasn't it." the dragon hiding her identity responded "134 cycles, and you haven't changed a bit, still wearing that ugly hood." "Don't be so harsh, I've gotten lot faster since then, come to finish me off?" "And who's the red one, doesn't seem like one of yours." the red, gray horned dragon gave a small bow "Brother Myrkr at your service, your infamy precedes you Sheez, even the United was scared of you." "But you aren't?" "No.". "We are not here to fight, and you shouldn't either." "Did I hear you right? You want a peaceful solution?" "The infamous Scorch is offering me friendship?" "No, I'm not offering friendship, in fact, I promised someone that if I ever saw you, I'd make you beg for me to kill you, but I'm offering reason, look at yourself." "Is this what you want for your kind?" "These ponies don't know what your kind is, is this how you want them to see you?" "There's two ways this can go Sheez, either you come with us, or, I'll keep my promise, and do what every kobold wishes they could do to you." Sheez didn't move "And don't even think you can win, we can see your every move." What came to the interactions between Shark, the kitsune and Light, the only ones to really see it happening were Chega and Sear, and they didn't want to get involved. ------ Ruby didn't know why she felt so unpleasant about letting the two go without her, she of course didn't make it known to them, and just watched them go in before looking elsewhere, they'd be fine, Charir was durable, and Leviathan could just blast lightning through the wall, but it still bothered her...why did she even think about it? since when had she cared what happens to others? Charir sniffed the water, but didn't touch or taste it, it was curious sight, but it was less the physics breaking that got his attention, and more the glow, as to him that implied that there was something in the water, thus the sniffing. When Leviathan put the ice in, Charir followed it with his eyes, before making a sound that was probably his equivalent to 'huh.'. He assumed it was magic, but it was still a curious sight. The masks he just glanced at and slightly tilted his head at, because he didn't know anything of...well, any culture really, so to him they were just weird masks. Luckily it also meant that he didn't have the knowledge to even consider why this place was like this, and thus the idea of curses didn't come to his mind and make him reconsider all of this. He followed Leviathan's gesture, and poked his head into the room, and after seeing the skeleton, he just tilted his head in curiosity, he had never seen moving skeletons, yet it also didn't seem like a real threat to him, it seemingly being made of regular bones, so it just confused him more than anything, since he wasn't entirely sure how it worked. Until Leviathan stopped him, Charir would sneak after the skeleton to see where it went. Ruby almost charged the skeletons when she first saw them, but then realizing they didn't seem to care about her, she thought about her options. She could attack, few skeletons wasn't a threat even in this form, and she could always transform if things got complicated, she could just let them be, and make a warning sound so that the two would know someone was coming from this direction....but then there was that damn feeling, that bother, why was her mind making up worst case scenarios for Leviathan and Charir? Why did she feel like she made a mistake by not being with them? What was this nonsense? was it some kind of curse? They were still aright, she could tell, because Charir had never taken off the piece of jewelry she had given him in the kitsune situation, and thus she could tell the position of his horn, and how it moved. Curse or not, she couldn't ignore her mind, so she decided to go in, but approach things carefully, she first whistled to see if the skeletons cared, if they didn't, she'd make more obvious sounds, until finally directly addressing them. If they did react, she'd try to talk to them, acting as non-dangerous as she physically could, basically trying to act like a random pony who just happened to end up here by accident and was lost. She would then act accordingly, if the skeletons ignored her, she'd follow them in, be it after waiting few seconds, if they were hostile, she'd fight, going for the head since it was the easiest thing to aim for when kicking, being the biggest, and so on.

@Props Valroa Una stayed in the hallway, not even trying entering the rooms until they found the right one, after all, there was no point, since Sombra could just look in and get out. She was actually a bit glad for the loud snoring of one of the inhabitants, as it covered up any accidental hoof steps she may have caused, not that they were loud enough to wake anyone up, but you never knew if someone was actually sleeping or not, until of course you could hear it this obviously. The only one she was worried about after getting glances into the different rooms, was the snorer, mainly because he was so large, sure she didn't underestimate anyone in the house, they were farmers, so physically they were probably all very capable, but the biggest felt the most dangerous. Una did as told, opening the window, she used her magic to make sure she could do it quietly, as one never knew if it was stuck or something, and it was lot easier to control with magic over using one's hooves. She did wonder what Sombra's plan was, of course she would know right away, but she still wondered, would he throw the pony out of the window? make her carry her through it? It didn't even cross her mind what exactly they were doing here, which probably would have made her question herself, if it wasn't for the fact that she failed to realize it.

@Props Valroa "Anyone or anything home!?" Cinder shouted after stepping inside, asking the same in draconic for good measure, "Huh, no security." "But, just in case." a dim red glow came from her hand, and a colorless dagger, seemingly made of crystal, materialized in her hand, not the most effective weapon, but better for indoors than her scythe. She explored the castle, wary of corners and other blind spots, Cinder was very relaxed creature, smiling at danger and so on, but it didn't mean she was totally careless, if she was going to get hurt, she would do so in her rules. She looked around the throne room, ignoring the urge to taste the unknown liquid, it was clear from the layout of the room, that the pool had more use than being just a decoration, most likely magical, thus, as curious as she was, she didn't want to touch it, just in case. "You know scale-noodle, this place reminds me of those stories about evil ponies, they all seem to have similar...aesthetic" "But those stories are ancient history at this point, and this castle doesn't look like it's thousands of years old." she checked every room that wasn't locked, she wasn't looking for anything specific, just exploring, and when she stumbled upon Misty's room, she looked around, but didn't touch anything. "No familiar faces here." though it wasn't the only thing about the drawings she noticed, "And what's with this group, as far as I know, the equines haven't gotten along for a long long while." she looked around "Maybe this place really is older than it looks." and walked to the nearest window, looking outside "Or even more misplaced than I first assumed." the snake went to sleep. Time travel or dimension travel wasn't necessarily something that everyone would consider as valid options, which Cinder found bit odd considering that there existed magic that can do both, nobody just knew how to use it, but to her it was lot easier to accept them as a possibility, because she had talked with beings outside the usual reality, they had saved her life after all, she knew reality was lot less simple than most thought it was. --- Noctuna didn't worry herself on how the water got there when she spotted some, she had already concluded that this castle had come here through very unnatural means, and that was as far as she looked into it, not that she would have necessarily been able to figure things out anyway, she was a queen of darkness, she hadn't studied what lakebeds look like. She took off her shoes and washed them, watching the blood wash away, she stopped for a moment to look at herself from the reflection of one of the gems, her eyes were bloodshot, and her crown and metal horn painted red from still fresh blood "It has been a long night hasn't it." she looked at her hoof, at the permanent reminder of her struggles "But it was all worth it, we won. I won." she took off her collar and crown, washing them too, they were misshaped and damaged, both due to being self made, and due to the violence earlier today "Long live Queen Noctuna..." and finally, she splashed water on her horn to clean it "...and may the traitors suffer in darkness."

@Props Valroa It was obvious. after all, it was the one thing Una mentioned herself, though she hadn't really expected anything else from Sombra, it was clear that he wasn't used to working with somebody, and was more used to having mind controlled servants with lacking ability to think for themselves. Una watched Sombra open the door, and started thinking about the poor security around this town, it was ridiculously easy to get past locks, even with Sombra going under doors and opening them from inside, had nobody thought that somebody could just do that with magic? a third of pony population was unicorns, and nobody had thought of magic-proofing their doors? Were they idiots? or was it really just so safe here that they didn't see the need? She followed Sombra inside, again focusing on staying quiet, she did take note of the decor and such, but didn't compare to it anything, because it was only natural that a farmhouse would look different than anything in the town. She did note that it seemed that this was a family residence, though it was impossible to tell just how many ponies lived here without counting bedrooms or such, which did worry her a tiny bit, because the chance of getting caught was lot bigger.