open An Arrow to the Wing (1x1 with Catpone Cerberus)

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Let's just go."

Everyone walked hoping Ruby would follow.

Quasi wondered what made the dragon like this. He looked at the dragon, Quasi had to really focus unlike many other mind reading dragons, not that many were out there. The nightwing stared at Ruby, looked into her mind. The dragon was only able to read concious thoughts and all emotion. There was no ability to dig through memories.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
There wasn't much for Quasi to find from Ruby's conscious mind as she quietly walked with the others, there were really only three types of thoughts in her head currently besides some meaningless random ones now and then, thoughts about how she hated everyone, not just the group, but everyone they had met, thoughts about how much she despised Equestria and wanted to go back to the homelands, and lastly were what were basically status reports to herself, as she thought about what she sensed. This wasn't a place or time where Quasi would be able to find out about Ruby's secrets from her head, he would need to get her when she was alone with no dangers around.

What came to emotions, it was exactly what it looked like from outside, annoyance, hate, despise....her mind was as unpleasant as her outside, only positive emotion that seemed to be around was her pride that had been bolstered by the realization that she was immune to the weapons that had been used against her, if she had any emotions she was hiding, she was hiding them so well that even she herself  didn't know about them, all that was certain was that she wasn't happy. 

It also didn't help that Quasi stared at her while he read her mind, as evidenced by the fact that her thoughts were soon replaced by 'Get out of my head.' followed by various insults relating to Quasi's inferiority.

Edited August 31, 2020 by Catpone Cerberus

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

Arrow looked around and scanned the area as he walked. Whoever these jackals were seemed to be very skilled.

Quasi was going to wack Ruby with his spear when Myra broke his train of thought.

"Scanning? Yeah, these jackals are very skilled. They attacked my lands once. They attacked Dasonia and were quickly pushed out using guerrilla warfare. Very effective against a more powerful opponent. That's a specialty for Dasonia. Those jackals had the same skill, but they were in our territory. The hardest part was pushing them off the beach. Much open territory and they had the advantage. I charged with my army with blades and teeth and arrows. Many died, yet we charged. We slaughtered the jackals."

"A princess that fights with her army?"

"Queen Glory has done the same when she fought the Nightwings. She turned a bunch of lazy Rainwings into a fighting force. Well, actually her friend Tsunami trained them. I like rainwings, sleeping in the middle of the day."

Dragons would appear from a cave, Skywings. And attacked the group with sleeping darts. They were enchanted, so this was clearly a targeted attack. They came in with high numbers as if they knew what they were facing.

"Capture them alive! Make sure to take out the red one, she's especially powerful. Our queen wants them all for the arena."

"Must've gotten them from rainwings. They seem to be animus touched along with the cave."

Quasi was hit, then Arrow, Myra and Sky put up a fight, but were overwhelmed. They were out. They'd then focus on Ruby, firing the enchanted sleeping darts.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight

When the attack started, Ruby would show just how little she cared about the others, as she would move behind Quasi in a way that he was between her and the attackers, and used his unconscious body as a shield until she either got close enough or the attackers came close enough for her to attack them. 

She attacked aiming for their necks and heads and though she would eventually come to the effects of the darts, she would get few hits in before that. 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

A few did die, but many were left. When everyone woke up, they'd find themselves chained, these chains were strong, they did their research on every single individual in the group. Ruby's chains were extra strong. Another dragon was there, a red one, also chained. She had rings on a coue or few talons and rubies over the eyes.

"So you're the dragon with the same name. You do look different, sad, thought we'd be twins. You look similar to a Skywing, you got the color, but you seem quite the different dragon. I'll go by Ruby and you can be called Shiny, I get the name here because I'm a queen! Perhaps once we get out, you'll help painfully... make that Equestrian dragon that had us locked up stop moving... forever. My forces are still fighting in the other part of my kingdom. I heard you didn't go down easy, I respect that. Do you have a name for your kind, Shiney?"

"Ruby's stronger, shouldn't she get the name."

"Did I give you permission to annoy, pony. Usually you are my prey. Ponies are so delicious, sad I'm not allowed to eat you as per agreement with the Rainwings."

The dragon, obviously NOT another version of Ruby, just had the name, was quite arrogant. She shot a look at Quasi, who was staring at her, she didn't exactly like anyone reading her mind.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Research as they may, they wouldn't find what ponies didn't already know, she was tough and strong, she was violent and hateful, she could transform to a pony, and she was not from Equestria. Even if they somehow managed to figure out where she came from, that would be where the trail would end, as there was no written history, or written anything about her or her kind, and they couldn't even ask anyone because they wouldn't be able to understand the language, not that they would get an answer anyway, since they all tried to kill everyone on sight.

Even if they would have somehow captured someone from her lands, and somehow got past the language barrier, they would not talk, and would fall into feral state before revealing anything, and even if they read their minds' deepest corners, there wouldn't be anything useful that could be used against them, these dragons had so high view of themselves that they never thought about weaknesses or anything else that indicated that they could lose a fight. Also, nobody in her homelands knew anyone called Ruby.

 

"I will not be called Shiny, and this is the one and only time I respond to it, you may be a queen for your kind, but for me you're you're just one more lizard among the others." "You can keep the name Ruby though, it's only my name in this awful language, and until we go our separate ways, I shall be known as 'Sventar' (killer)" the ways she said it indicated it was a word in her language. "And I'm not planning to help anyone with anything, but I will make whoever this 'queen' as the attackers called her is, wish that she had never met me ." "And what comes to your question, we call ourselves just dragons, but, our more peaceful eastern relatives call us what in this language would be 'Death-Bringers'." 

She ignored arrow, she didn't need a pony to talk for her. 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Well, Sventar, judging from your types name, you are quite powerful."

Skywings would come in.

"Queen, we've convinced the false queen not you make you fight, you're safe until the counterattack and then we'll free you. The false queen thinks we're loyal to her."

The new Ruby nodded. The guards unshackled Ruby or 'Sventar' from the wall.

"They will have you fight in the arena. You shall face a deadly Icewing. Hope you're resistant to extreme cold."

Arrow watched. She hasn't truly seen Ruby in a real fight. What was this dragon capable of?

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Ruby stayed quiet when the guards arrived, she didn't care if they were working for the other Ruby, they were guards, and to learn enough to escape, she needed to pay attention to everything and anything. She would walk on her own legs, head high, "Let's see if this one can actually put up a fight." she would secretly check everything she could with her senses, how many guards, how many weapons, how many locks, where they were, and when they would enter the arena, she would look for way out and what would be the thing stopping her if she was stupid enough to just fly, where was this 'queen', as she was most likely watching, how was she protected? this was a scout fight for her. 

That of course didn't mean she wasn't going to have fun, arenas were made for shows, and she would create a show, she just wanted to see who she was fighting first. 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

Security was tight. Locks were everywhere and guards were posted with spears, they seemed to be big and strong and in high numbers. Flying was accounted for two as if Ruby were to try or look at her wings, she'd find that her wings were restrained with special clips meant for wings of dragons. This was a dragon arena for prisoners.

Outside was a massive arena, a massive dragon was surrounded by guards upwards, watching.

"Today we have a fight with an extremely powerful dragon, not much is known about her or her kind, but she will put on quite a show. And to think this was a hospital for dragons that fought in the war and wounded soldiers. This is much more fun!"

Sky looked at the place, why would they get rid of a hospital for wounded soldiers? That wasn't right.

An ice blue dragon looked at Ruby. He was curious about what kind of dragon she was. A skywing? No, this wasn't the same. How was she so powerful?

"You're the powerful dragon I'm facing? Pretty little thing looks all proud, but isn't really special."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
So this place used lot of locks, a good sign, as that would mean less magical seals, and they were easy to break, but at the same time, it meant she had no idea what way was out, it would be a tough fight to get out, and would take bit more observing to figure out, but hey, at least she could have fun while in here. "Bigger they are, more fun they are." Ruby said with a grin, she didn't really care for the history of the place, because she agreed with the speaker, this was more fun.

She looked at who she assumed was the Queen in a way that told that she looked down on her, oh it had to annoy her so much, this small dragon looking at her like she was nothing.

She waited for the fight to begin. (how big is the Ice dragon about?)

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

The dragon was twice Ruby's size, standing over her.

"Fight!"

The Icewing breathed freezing cold frost breath at Ruby's legs, he wanted to see what Ruby would do, and if she did nothing, maybe he could keep her from moving.

"Dragon, I will keep your head as a prize!"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"I won't." Ruby only responded as the frost breath was met by her hot fire breath, creating steam, which combined with Ruby's smoke made a visual block between the two, and before it was gone, the Ice dragon would hear "Predictable, predictable,predictable." as Ruby suddenly came from his side, jumped, and while leaping over him, she grabbed his wings and pulled them in direction they weren't meant to go, breaking them. Sure wings weren't used in this fight in the first place, but it still hurt when they got broken, and that was what Ruby was trying to do, cause pain. 

Ruby would only use her breath to counter the ice breath of the other dragon, and though she would get hit by it few times, it wasn't hard to melt it away when you were able to breath fire. 

In this fight Ruby used her smaller size to her advantage, moving a lot and unpredictably, going over and under her opponent, every time slashing or slamming him when she did, she too got hit some times, but the bigger male wouldn't get the change to penetrate her scales, so all it would be just blunt hits that at worst may crack a bone, but nothing less than one breaking in two would slow Ruby down.

She would do this until the bigger dragon would be too much in pain to stand, her exact strategy would change based on her opponents actions, but she never aimed for lethal hits, only those that were the most painful.

When eventually the bigger dragon would collapse, still alive, Ruby would move around him like a predator stalking its prey "Pretty little thing looks all proud, but isn't really special." she would taunt with insulting voice "I will keep your head as a prize!" she imitated, before returning to her normal voice "Well, I won't, you're not worth it." she would then proceed to finish the job, but not quickly nor cleanly, she made it as long as painful as possible, and though this was partly for her own entertainment, she was also sending a message, and when the time was for the final blow, which was breaking of the neck, she didn't look at the Icewing, no, she stared at the assumed queen, right to her eyes, as she said something in her own language. 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

The icewing screamed in pain as Ruby did what she did. Before he his neck was broken, he smiled and said to Ruby...

"Impressive..."

The dragon knew someone like Ruby was bound to escape.

Guards would run in and take Ruby to the chambers and the crowds applauded.

"Just how hot is your fire? You turned that ice into steam! Icewing breath is extremely cold! Whatever, maybe I'll buy you a drink when we get out!"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Ruby ignored the last words of the Icewing, she wasn't here to impress those weaker than her.

She didn't cause trouble for the guards, walking back without a fight, it wasn't time to cause trouble yet, she wanted to see how things worked here first, rushing things would only make leaving harder. 

She looked at Quasi like his question was weird "As hot as I need it to be, though after certain point I will burn myself." "Ice is very easy to turn into steam, if he had breathed water my fire would have been lot less effective." though water breath would be very much useless in combat until you fought someone who was literally made of fire "and I don't drink".  she faced the other Ruby (assuming she could move her head) "Was that lizard someone from your acquaintances?" 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Good attempt, Quasi! I'll take a drink!"

"Dragon stuff is strong, and the offer was for Ruby aka Sventar."

Queen Ruby looked to answer.

"No one I knew, though I doubt you care other than what's important to yourself."

Guards came in and took everyone except Quasi and Ruby/Sventar.

"You two will fight as a team soon."

The guard left them alone.

"What is life like where you're from? You said a troubled past as we call it is just life to you."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"You're not wrong." Ruby admitted before the other Ruby left, she had asked only out of curiosity, since she wondered who were on the other side if all of them had been put here, were they just some random dragons?

She looked thoughtful when the other's were taken away, why would they put her in a team right after she had shown that she does great alone? and where were the others taken? would they end up fighting each other? What was the 'queen' planning?

"Simply put, if your society is anything like ponies, you would call my upbringing abuse." "Our homelands are brutal and unforgiving, you either kill or be killed, you either survive, or you don't." "This is true from the moment we hatch, there is no rulers, no hospitals, nothing related to civilization, only nature in its harshest form." "There is a reason why nobody has heard of my kind before, any outsider that finds their way to the homelands will be killed before they even realize they are in danger." she sounded proud of her homelands, like she believed it was the best way to live.

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Our lives aren't as tough, but we have our own troubles and hardships as well. The mudwings care little for their eggs, the parents don't care at all. And due to how things work, they may never know their dad, not that their dad's care. Siblings are loyal to each other, mudwings have that. Rainwings use to disappear and would do nothing until the new queen created a fighting force out of them."

The dragon thought for a moment.

"Seawings care for their young. As for myself, I was abandoned because of my look. Most nightwings aren't white like snow. I cannot blend into the night like my fellow nightwings. I also have an illness that causes thoughts to intrude in my mind, telling me I'll die from an illness if I don't do things in a certain manner. I have control over it now, but I use to need a caretaker to make sure I was eating. It's why I have to really focus to read minds."

Quasi looked at Ruby.

"If my life hurt me, your life must've hurt as well, even if you don't want to show it. I've seen many dragons in my land, many fear looking or being weak, so they hide their emotions. I think you hide yours too. Having feelings doesn't make you weak, they are part of being an individual and are a part of your story, I have my own pain. We all have problems, but... we don't always share them. Some fear others won't understand. Some think people will think them less. Others... fear looking weak."

He had a caring smile.

"You're special, Ruby you know that. What you don't know is that your feelings play a part in that. Your problems, your heartache. Life is a story, and we're all the protagonists of our own. As the writer of yours, won't you give yours a happy ending?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"You sound like a pony." Ruby dismissed, she wasn't one for sermons about emotions and friendship "The lack of emotions is not a choice I have made, it's my nature." "I don't know if we truly lack the ability to feel certain emotions, or if we just never feel them because there's no need for them, but it's something we all lack." "There's only one egg, so we don't have siblings, fathers are either chased away or killed when they have filled their purpose, and mothers....I sometimes wonder how we are still around, because though we are superior to other creatures, we really don't bother making sure our bloodline survives." "You would have died very quickly if you would have hatched to one of us." "So we don't need love, compassion, and other such emotions, they would only make us hesitate and thus lose us our lives." 

Edited September 4, 2020 by Catpone Cerberus

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Your mind gives it away, though, not because I look, but because it happens... just in pieces and emotion unless I look. This isn't about friendship, that does have a good purpose, but no, what I say is about you. Having someone that hates you is painful, I steal feel the pain of being abandoned, but to have no one to love you... I don't know. My caretaker, Mira was always protective, my adoptive parents were very kind."

Quasi looked at Ruby with compassion.

"You've lived a rough life, but we all write our own story as we live. You found a place that is safe... well... safer, nothing a strong dragon you can't handle... except the big guy sucking powers, that's pretty scary... and the time and space thing... and- well, at least it isn't kill or be killed."

"Kill or be killed is popular in your land, but just because something js popular doesn't make it right. That's why we have good guys to rise up. Sometimes we have that hero that fights an army themselves, sometimes a group of heroes band together to stop a war."

The friendly dragon chuckled.

"I know, you've heard what I've got to say many times. Maybe you've even heard that phrase too! And that too... and so on. There's a phrase I've heard once. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. And a dragon like yourself... well... you're a pretty dangerous horse that isn't afraid to kick."

"And maybe love and compassion make one hesitate, but it gives you something to fight for. And if you love someone enough, you'll fight for them until you die. They could take your wings, legs, and teeth and fire, but you will fight on."

The dragon looked at Ruby.

"What is it that you fight for? Pride for your own self is easily broken. We don't feel on top all the time. We all have our insecurities, Ruby. And when those are exploited, you may lose love for yourself. And then... there's nothing left. No reason to fight. Maybe you don't agree, and I can't make you, but just know, I'd protect you with my life, even if I'm weaker than you. Even if I have no chance... I will fight for you"

Quasi had feelings for Ruby, but he didn't expect Ruby to feel the same, noy immediately. Things like this take time. Sometimes the feeling never becomes mutual.

"I'm sure the feelings I have for you aren't mutual, we only met today, and I know you have a lot of negative things to say, it's built into your mind, but I'm sure something is in you."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"Survival." Ruby simply stated "That is what I fight for, it is the purpose of life." she added, seemingly ignoring most of the speech "What happens if someone you care about betrays you? Will you just let it go because you care about them?." "Would you be willing to kill your mother if she stole from you?" "Or would your emotions stop you?" "You tried to use me being here as proof that I'm not what I claim, but do you want to know why I am here?" "I'm here to plan a revenge, a revenge against my mother, plan the best way to get her worthless head hanging on the wall of my cave she stole from me." 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Who the heck steals the cave?"

A guard came out and led them out to the arena. A dragon of Ruby's kind stood there with pride.

"He got a better deal and went willingly. Offered treasure for every fight he wins."

This is what was gathered from the mind, the dragon in front of them wouldn't know as majority of Nightwings didn't read minds. Only when eggs were in a certain moonlight.

"Fight!"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"Territory." Ruby simply pointed out before they were brought into the arena, it really wasn't anything more complicated than that.

"I hope he has enjoyed it." she commented "Worthless male." the latter was said under her breath and was targeted at their opponent, and when the fight started, Quasi would find himself ignored by both dragons, he obviously wasn't the bigger concern for the opponent. 

The fight would start slowly, Ruby and the male would stalk each other mirroring each other's movements, while also having some sort of conversation in their native language, most likely insults considering the tone of voice, and any attacks from Quasi was met by a counter attack that didn't seem to take much effort. The fight would eventually pick up pace, and unlike with the previous opponent, Ruby was seemingly aiming for more lethal strikes, the throat and neck to be exact, and she seemed to be doing fine job, though it seemed that she had trouble to sink her hits deep enough to hurt the bigger dragon, something that most likely wouldn't surprise Quasi if he had tried to attack already, since the enemy's scales were not only as tough as Ruby's, but also thicker than Ruby's because of the size difference.

Something went wrong though, it wasn't clear what, since Ruby moved around so much that it was really hard to keep up on what she was doing, but suddenly she was hit, and that hit caused her to stagger enough for the bigger dragon to just grab her and slam her to the ground. It was quite a powerful hit, and the sheer force of the slam was so great that it was really a testament to her body's durability that she was still alive after it. 

This didn't take away her fighting spirit, as she struggled and threw insults in her native language at the male while he held her down, but it was pretty clear that she was in trouble, as the opponent put more and more weight on her, eventually leading to her gasping for air between insults as it was getting harder to breath, it seemed that this species really liked to cause pain and suffering to their enemies. 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

Quasi made a few attempts to attack and failed. This dragon was strong. Quasi decided this was Ruby's fight, but decided it was now his when Ruby was having trouble. The dragon focused and looked into the dragon's mind, what was his instincts telling him? What was his plan? From what Quasi gathered, the dragon wasn't focusing much on Quasi, and he couldn't really understand the language, so he had to look at what the dragon was doing physically. Judging from emotion, the dragon was confident. Maybe he could break the focus. Maybe the dragon didn't know his language? That was a chance he needed to take.

"Ruby! I'm going to take a risk and distract him. I'll read your mind and make my own attacks based on what you are doing."

Quasi plunged his spear into the dragon's tail and then quickly attacked one eye. Blinding him completely would be a terrible idea, but one eye might at least make him flinch enough for Ruby to free herself. His field of view would also become more limited. If Ruby got out, he'd quickly give the spear to her.

"You're fire proof, yes? Throw the spear into his mouth! If you can't... could I have my spear back?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
The male indeed didn't understand what Quasi was say, either that or he ignored it, regardless he didn't do anything to stop whatever Quasi was planning. The attack on the tail went mostly ignored, but losing an eye made him angry, it didn't make him flinch necessarily, but it got Ruby free because the bigger dragon threw her to a wall hard enough for the wall get damaged before going after Quasi. 

It took Ruby a second to gather her surroundings after getting slammed to a thing for second time, it didn't help that she hadn't been able to breath for moment there, but she was quickly back in the fight, her body had been through worse. She didn't say anything when Quasi gave her his spear, in fact, if she wouldn't have taken the spear, one could think that she didn't even notice he was there, not a surprise by itself probably, but her demeanor seemed to have changed altogether, somehow she seemed even less happy than she had been before.

Her thoughts would mirror that too, or more precisely, the lack of them, there was nothing redundant going in her head, just pure hatred, hatred that was far beyond what there had been before.

She went along Quasi's plan though...kinda, she didn't throw the spear, that would have been useless, instead she waited for the right moment and then jumped into the bigger dragon's mouth with the spear. The bigger dragon again grabbed Ruby and threw her away, causing her to yet again get slammed to the ground, but she had done what she had planned to, the spear was now sticking out of the male's mouth, and he seemed to have trouble to get it out.

Ruby got up quickly again, though she was visibly getting tired, a simple spear wasn't enough to take the bigger dragon down, but it hurt enough for Ruby to do her next plan, and climb on the bigger dragon's neck and slowly but surely start digging into his scales, the spines on the dragon's back were painfully digging into Ruby as she did this, but she didn't let go, and if Quasi was still distracting their opponent, he didn't have time to roll over to crush her, so he would eventually collapse when Ruby got through his scales and cut his spine and arteries from the neck. If she did get crushed, she would climb back on and continue.

Quasi would need to get his spear from the fallen enemy's mouth himself, as Ruby didn't bother do it..or anything in that matter, as she just jumped back on the ground and started limping back to the chambers, ignoring everything and everyone. She didn't even seem to care about the injures she had gotten, it of course wasn't clear how badly she had been hurt from just looking at her, but what was visible was that  she was limping, and it also seemed that she was bleeding from somewhere in/on her lower body, as evidenced by the small amount of blood dripping down from there as she walked, though the source was hard to spot since she was also covered in blood of their enemy.

 

Edited September 6, 2020 by Catpone Cerberus

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

Quasi took his weapon and went with Ruby. Quasi felt terrible for how his plan didn't go fully well. They won, but Ruby was hurt.

When they were chained back, Quasi would lay down next to Ruby.

"Didn't go the way we thought, did it? There's always someone bigger out there Ruby, there's no shame in that."

"Truth is, you're brave, Ruby. I wish I was as brave and strong as you."

Quasi put his neck around her neck to comfort her. This was like the dragon version of a hug.

"Let's plan our escape. According to another mind I read, there is a tavern inn where you can rest. Maybe we can treat your wounds there."