Catpone Cerberus

@Blitz Boom Ruby first didn't pay attention to the smell, but then she made a connection, or more like a lack of one, fresh ground was getting dug out, but she didn't smell an animal, besides their food that is, but she could tell the difference between living and dead animals. She let out a bit of smoke to clean her nostrils so that she would get a better scent, this shouldn't be anything too concerning to Leviathan, as it was done in a casual way that didn't given any specific message. She still wasn't worried about any hunters, even those targeting dragons, since she saw herself to be above their skill level, but she didn't like the idea of anyone snooping around, so she decided to go check it out. Without saying a word, she took of the support she had made for her leg and leaped into the trees, moving close to the tops of the trees without a sound, heading towards the source of the smell, keeping her other senses sharp too in case there was something she hadn't noticed earlier. Whoever was out there had also made a second mistake besides not considering Ruby's sense's, they also hadn't considered that forest may be the most natural habitat for her like it was, and being a bright red dragon in a forest meant you needed to really master the ways to not be spotted, which she had done during her time at the homelands. Ruby's younger brother either didn't smell anything or didn't care, as he only reacted when Ruby suddenly left, though when she did leave, there was a wary look on his face, he could sense Ruby's concern. ---------------------------------------------- "A shark-pony with wings?" Nada asked "Can't say I have, but I know pony hybrids are a thing, so maybe it was a hybrid between a shark and a pegasus?" she put her hoof under her chin thoughtfully "Though I don't know any shark species that are sentient." she also listened the water as she spoke, just in case the shark-pony found the underwater entrance. "But she has to be connected to the monster frog somehow, otherwise this is quite the coincidence. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bellflower did join Lyriel, though not before grabbing an empty jar with her in addition to the two with the ectoplasm, when she got outside, the stallion closed the door behind them. Bellflower then spoke, sounding slightly apologetic "Sorry about my brother, he had a strict upbringing, he's lot nicer than he lets on." "And having annoying ghost following you everywhere doesn't really help with that." They wouldn't find the trio from where Lyriel last saw them, but it wouldn't be too hard to figure out what direction they had went to, as there was a quite obvious trail of frozen plants going in that direction. Meanwhile... When the spider legs came out, the mare looked surprised, but not shocked "That's new." when you have existed for 400 years, something like that wasn't as impressive as it could have been. "Ancestors, a grand-grand-grand...I have lost count, it has been a while, and the mare has nothing to do with it, she is from different family, even if she shares the blood." "I was betrayed, and killed, but it's not like I stayed here to haunt them, no, I haunt them because I stayed here, I figured it's what's keeping me here, but I don't know for sure." her voice had a weird, constant maleficent tone to it, and it seemed like she couldn't get rid of it even if she tried "And as much as I hate them, no, they're not dangerous, or at least not for the dryad, if they wanted to harm her, you wouldn't have made it this far." Scarecrow suddenly took a step backwards, but didn't say anything, the mare did though "Oh? You can feel her too?" "Her?" "The sister, Wild Bellflower, she's the source of the powerful presence around here, she annihilated me into nothing when we first met, if you think you cannot feel pain, you're wrong, getting turned into nothing and then coming back, it's quite excruciating experience."

@Lucid_Nightlight The fools that came anywhere near Ruby would show just how savage she was, as none of them survived her brutal attacks, and most unlucky was the one who was the last survivor, as Ruby didn't bother making their end quick nor painless. She ignored the chitchat as she usually did, focusing more on cleaning up herself as much as she could without water, and as things had calmed down and she had stopped moving, one could notice that she didn't survive without scratch, literally and figuratively, as there were harmless scratches, a lot of them, and there was also bits and pieces missing from her scales, but none of the big enough to cause any openings. She didn't even notice the newcomers before the female coyote addressed her, yes, she even missed the praise that was given to her by the blue one. "Ruby, I serve no one, I lead no one." "I kill to live and live to kill." she was mostly surprised it was her from everyone who this....dog? decided to talk to.

@Illiad Easle It wouldn't take long for Ædriga to return to her usual self after they entered the forest, in all it's weirdness it felt familiar, so it would take only some deep breaths and taking in the sounds, and lack of them, to finally calm her mind. She would think a moment after the question, she didn't really get what the choice was from the words alone, since 'hunt' wasn't exactly something found in foals' book, but the pictures got the message to its target. She looked her injured leg and moved it in various ways, then thinking about something again, it did still hurt a little, but it shouldn't stop her from hunting, it only meant that she wouldn't be able to fight or chase her pray if it got away, or at least it would if she was alone, but she wasn't. She pointed at the first picture, before doing movements that at least were supposed to signal that she was itching to hunt again, but if Ætheron didn't understand the implication, it would just look like she was warming up her body.

"I'll rather stay here for a moment." Jenna said, leaning on Oliver again, it wouldn't be long until the sky would start turning orange, the sun was starting to set slowly but surely. "This may be the last peaceful moment in a while, better take full enjoyment out of it."

Jenna didn't continue on the topic, Oliver was wrong but she obviously wasn't going to explain it to him when there was so many potential eavesdroppers nearby "I didn't mean literally sit down." "What I meant is basically that I'll contact them when we get a room....speaking of there's the hotel." She pointed at a building that was pretty clearly a hotel, not a fancy one, but a rather mediocre one, it would still be some minutes before they reached it.

@Widdershins "I mean, why not, I once saw a floating golden bell that made you hear bell-noises only when you didn't ring it." Cerberus said "I don't know if there was map for it but it certainly was a floating magical golden item that didn't do anything, in fact, it stopped doing when you tried to use it." "I wonder what happened to it, I've never seen it since, whenever it was I saw it." ---------------------- @Blitz Boom Ruby just blinked at Leviathan after the bear was left in front of her, there obviously wasn't any doubt on what Leviathan was trying to do, and though she didn't show it, Ruby appreciated it. The younger sibling was lot more visibly grateful, he was still wary of course, but he let Leviathan close, keeping his eye on her movements just in case, but when the boar was presented to him and left for him, one could see the joy on his face, which could be either a happy or a sad sign depending on what one was thinking. He gave a one more careful look towards Ruby, but she turned her head away to indicate that she didn't care, so he dug in, and his way of dealing with his food was very much the same as Ruby's, showing their similar upbringing. Ruby didn't touch her bear yet, not because she didn't want to, but because of what Leviathan said about the rope, sure it could be that poacher that the guards were looking for, but what if it wasn't? Ruby was familiar with many strategies, and making your opponent underestimate you was one of them. She closed her eyes and focused her senses, not her hearing nor her smelling, but her extra sense, looking for any metals or anything else that indicated a presence of something that wasn't a wild animal. She would do this for some minutes if nothing came up, and would start eating if it seemed safe, but she never let down her guard, giving extra attention to her sense the whole time in case someone was trying to sneak on them. If there was something to be concerned about, she would act like she didn't notice anything until she could either attack or would need to defend and/or warn the two smaller dragons. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- To her usual manner, Nada just listened, she couldn't really comment on the pony Ziggy was talking talking about, since to her the whole thing in short was 'one specific pony you've never met agrees with you' with some details that weren't necessarily any of her business. One the guard thing though, she agreed, it was very odd that a princess didn't have any guards, but she couldn't really say anything regarding it since they were interrupted by the knock. Depending on how Agni reacted to the knocks, Nada would submerge either right away or after warning Agni so he wouldn't get wet, but she would submerge just under the surface like she had done previously and listen. She would poke her head back out when she heard the door close "Was it a pony or something else?" not that it really changed anything, she just felt that it was important information "Though why would anyone think they would find frogs inside a house?" this may have not been the detail that Ziggy had found weird, but it was the first question that came to mind for Nada. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "If it has been spotted in Equestria, I'll know about it." The stallion stated "And I have seen you before." he kept a thoughtful pause "So you have became a part of draconequus's game, that's unfortunate, though if it's any consolation, they rarely kill anypony on purpose." he looked at his sister who then nodded and moved out of a view for a moment into the residence "I can give you what you need, but not for free, your friend, Scarecrow..." there was flash of amusement on his expression when he said the name "...if i can get few pieces of him for study, I will give you the ectoplasm." the mare returned levitating two jars with what looked like fog in them "Will you get them for me or do you need Bellflower to do it? I understand your kind isn't big on taking pieces of creatures." "We of course will ask his permission too but knowing undead, I don't believe he cares." the mare cut in with her friendlier tone "And don't worry, it will be just tiny pieces." Meanwhile outside, the mare seemed amused when the 'bird' tried to peck her, but didn't pay too much mind to it, until it wrote, which cause her to look at it curiously while casually walking out of Scarecrow, head upside down from looking at Scarecrow, though she would twist it right way up pretty quickly. Scarcrow moved his limbs a bit after the ghost left him, causing a sound of ice cracking being heard. "So this thing can write? Interesting." the mare would say with her echoing voice, trying to poke the 'bird', if it let her, she would feel oddly solid when she did it "Who am I? I'm a victim of wrongdoing, following the guilty until end of their bloodline." "A bored soul, stuck in existence..." she twisted her head towards Scarecrow "...I'm sure you can relate." she then turned her head back towards the 'bird', her movements would probably have been lot more freaky looking if she actually had a body. "a mare, who has been long forgotten, even by her herself."

@Lucid_Nightlight Ruby didn't need to smell anything to know something was up, there was lot more metal around than usual (her extra sense) She covered herself at first, but when she realized that whatever was shot at them ricocheted off her scales, she started laughing. The bombs were bit more dangerous, but besides hurting her ears, nothing less than a direct hit did anything to her, and since she moved in unprediable manner, it wasn't easiest thing to do out there. It was harder to focus on the metal when avoiding explosions, so she wouldn't find their enemy right away, but if nothing else, she would work as a good distraction.

@Lucid_Nightlight Since you're bringing guns into a dragon fight, you should probably know that Ruby is in fact, bulletproof. She, or more specifically, her kind is based on a dragons from a book series I once read, and in that dragons were not only more intelligent than humans, but also bulletproof. Explosions and anti-armor weaponry can damage her, but it will need to be used very tactically to actually stop her (and kill her).

@Lucid_Nightlight "I could probably mow down a group of dragons in minutes." Ruby muttered under her breath, she didn't seem faced, and in truth, she wasn't, death or victory, though latter was more preferable, she wasn't scared of death, there was fates worse than that. "Less talking more doing, where are they?"

@Illiad Easle Ædriga didn't even need to translate the question to understand what had been asked, so she nodded before starting to go through what had been said, because while she didn't need to understand the words to answer the question, she still wanted to use any chance to learn new words. She would also take steps towards the forest at the same time as she nodded, showing just how much she wanted to leave the city behind, maybe it was a good idea to first get her used to ponies in Ponyville or other smaller place before big cities, since ultimately the problem was everything being unfamiliar to her. She was disappointed of herself, she was supposed to be a creature from top of the food chain, an unwinnable hunter, yet here she was, fleeing from crowds of prey animals, hiding behind...she wasn't sure if Ætheron was to be considered prey or predator, she really was a failure like her mother had said, but well, at least she was happier, and if being happy meant she would be a failure, so be it, better than being dead at least.

@Lucid_Nightlight "Well, we don't have any civilizations at the homelands so you're not wrong." Ruby said, she of course understood what Ember meant but she couldn't pass the chance to be annoying. She found it amusing that this little thing was the ruler of the local kind, but in other hand, considering the others she had met, this one just may be the most intelligent one. "But since someone who has hunted your kind for sport is a good idea in your opinion, I have a feeling that my savageness is exactly what you need."

@Lucid_Nightlight "Oh, I know what is right and what is wrong, the thing is, I just don't care." it seemed that Ruby wasn't going to get a straight answer to her question, not that it really mattered as long as he didn't make things harder. "And greed is not what brings me satisfaction, no, it's more like a need, like thirst and hunger, what brings me joy is fighting, what brings me satisfaction is victory, and there will always be creatures to kill." "I have heard the sermons about friendship, and they are meaningless to me, for most of my life I have managed alone, and alone I will be until my death, that is the way of nature."

I'm not that clumsy in most days, but there are the clumsy-days when nothing stays in my hands, I crash into everything and I wonder how I have survived this long.

6-7 for all of them I'm not a top model by any means, but when I really look at people, I'd say I'm pretty close to someone that one would call average, and I lack many things that (in general) are considered ugly. There's people more intelligent than me, but there's also those who clearly are not. I consider myself a a generally kind person, but I have been kinder in the past, and I can also be quite unkind when on the mood.

"No." Jenna argued "The reason why we want to move in crowds, is because we are harder to spot there, but that also means I can't sense them from the crowd." "Besides, it's only other's like me I can sense, humans are just like any other human, so until they are doing something very obvious, I have no way to tell." "And I'll see about contacting the ally when we can sit down for a moment."

"It's not really about if it will happen again." Jenna pointed out "It's...I don't know, it's a bad memory, there's nothing more to it." she was downplaying it but she really wanted to stop talking about it, and even positive talk about it was talking about it.

@Lucid_Nightlight Ruby tossed the scroll back after quickly glancing over it, she hadn't really gotten a straight answer to either of her questions, but at lest she got something regarding the latter "We had a prophecy too, it basically said that our nation would rule over all creatures and we all would have great fortune." she paused for dramatic effect "Greed took over, there was a civil war and civilization collapsed, and for longer than ponies or any other current day civilization has existed, we have been living like we do now." "My point being, I don't believe in prophecies." "So I ask again, what good is someone who can't take care of themselves in a war?"

@Illiad Easle Ædriga ignored the unkind words, and not only because she didn't understand them, as her self-preservation took over her pride, making insults meaningless. She hadn't really paid attention to what crashed into her, nor how creatures around her had reacted, because though there wasn't any real threats around, her mind had gone to survival-state, ignoring everything that wasn't immediate source of danger. That was why she had to forcibly calm her sense when she got out of the city, she didn't want to accidentally kill someone. She wouldn't purposely stop Ætheron from touching her, but she would wince/flinch when he first did so, though if he didn't let go or did the same again, there wouldn't be similar reaction, she wasn't used to anyone or anything touching her without ill intent, so by reflex she prepared for the worst when she felt something. She nodded to Ætheron question, and tried to explain her situation by pointing towards the city, then at her ears and nostrils and finally taking a posture like she was ready to fight something.

@Lucid_Nightlight "You're the one who can move instantly, besides, why even is he here if he can't take care of even himself?" Ruby pointed out "Speaking of, I was wondering, Quasi, are your kind's females as useless as you are, or is it like my kind where only males are useless?"

"I haven't been in contact yet, so this is my own judgement." Jenna explained "But almost anywhere should be fine, because if neither of our chasers know we're here, it'll take some time for them to find us, and if they do, well, hiding is pointless in that case anyway.

"For now." Jenna said as she finally looked at Oliver with a faint smile "But I'd be lying if I said I want to think about it any more than I did before." "And honestly I feel bit ill." the picture in her head as she had told about the event had made her want to throw up, and though she didn't think about it anymore, the ill feeling hadn't fully passed yet.

@Illiad Easle Ædriga again stayed close to Ætheron, again almost touching him, the speed wasn't really a problem, because she was quite a quick walker and runner, even with a hurting leg, so until someone crashed into her or she crashed into something, she wouldn't lose Ætheron, though a crash wasn't out of question considering she only focused on Ætheron rather than her surroundings so that she wouldn't lose him. If she did end up crashing and thus losing Ætheron, she would momentarily go to a state of panic before taking flight and flying as high as she needed to get away from crowds, ignoring both the pain and any possible creatures she may or may not crash into while doing it. She would then collect her thoughts and fly to the edge of the forest. Regardless of if she arrived with or without Ætheron, the moment she got out of the city she would stop, cover her ears, and then start breathing deep breaths, she would do this until her senses calmed down.

@Lucid_Nightlight Ruby didn't comment, just grunted, she didn't know anything about other worlds and such, so she didn't bother taking part in the conversation, if a creature from another world was capable of taking her down, there wasn't much she could do, she had evolved to be a perfect killing machine in this world, not in all worlds, every world had their superior species, and not all worlds were equal. But this of course didn't fear her, because as had just been proven in the last fight, she did not fear death or injury.