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

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Ruby just gave Quasi the 'so?' look when he pointed out that getting ponies drunk was unfair, she had never said she played fair, and it wasn't exactly a secret at this point that she liked to fool ponies to get their belongings.

"One would think you would be happy to have someone stealing all of your enemies' attention." Ruby pointed out "Besides, some dogs with weaponry doesn't exactly concern me, the best they have managed to do is get tiny pieces of my scales and make my ears ring." "I have done lot more damage to myself than they have." she pointed at the missing chunks caused by her spell.
 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

A dragon, probably some bard would sing some kind of bar song, something about a group of dragonets stopping a war in the recent past.

"Oh I love this one! It's about the dragonets of destiny who stopped the war of sandwing succession. Despite their prophecy being fake, they managed to fullfill it!"

"At least these guys sing at appropriate times and not after fighting over a carrot like ponies."

"Yeah, we sing a lot."

"Yeah, I sing too, as a musician. I sing quite similar to that Songbird Serenade pony."

"Oh she's a good singer! She sang a song after five ponies and a tiny dragon the size of a foal saved Equestria from the Storm King because my fellow guards don't do their jobs."

"Say, Ruby, where were you when the Storm King attacked? I doubt they'd even come close to stopping you."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"I was observing." Ruby stated "I hadn't yet fully settled in and could feel that something was coming, so I retreated into the shadows, I didn't want to blow my cover and...well, to be honest, I kinda hoped Storm King would win, it would have been easy to steal the land from him." she shook her head in disappointed manner "Too bad he was an idiot."

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

Arrow wrote something down.

"Yeah, that's going into your dossier for sure. You're alright with your every move being watched, right?"

"Hmm... yeah kinda scary. You're not gonna get over confident and try to attack my land, are you? What a waste of a nice missile. Myra, your Nomadikans could take on Ruby's kind, right?"

"Hard to say, I don't know what her kind can do. I can say that we do have highly explosive arrows, catapults that could launch our bombs, ballista weapons, and various poisons. Some that could kill 10,000 humans on skin contact. However, I do not know if scales make dragons immune to such poisons or not, or how big her kind is. Ruby, what do you think? Would such weapons be effective?"

"Wait, you don't even know!? You've led armies! You're an expert in tactics of war!"

"Excuse me for not having experience with Ruby's kind! We don't exactly have a dragon problem in our world."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"You said it like I wasn't going to be watched regardless, you really think that I think the princesses would take the risk of not keeping eye on me....not that it's hard to get rid of any annoyances." Ruby said to Arrow before acknowledging the others "And I already said when I got in that I have no interest in invading anyone, all I want is what belongs to me." "But....your weapons could stop few of us, but if there was many of us or the biggest ones of us came, you'd be outmatched." "Catapults and ballistas, too slow, they would only hit the biggest and slowest ones, but their scales are so thick that you need several to do anything to one of them, exploding arrows...well you can see what the explosions did to me, so you would need lot of arrows and very good archers." "For poisons, I don't know what humans are nor do I know what kind of poisons you have in your world, but our scales don't let any poisons through them, and even if they did, they wouldn't get in out blood that easily, and what comes to poisons in this world, we are very resistant to most if not all of them, not immune, but getting enough of them inside one of my kind is not really worth the effort." 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

"Princess Myra took a moment to look at Ruby. Sure it was unlikely her kind would attack, but what if they did?

"I want information on your kind and their capabilities. If an attack was to occur, that would force us to get help from the humans and I fear that would change our way of life. We'll need counter-dragon tactics and weaponry for my land. Even if your kind won't attack, there is still a threat of the Equestrian type attacking."

"That is true. The Equestrian type is a threat. And we did get unconfirmed sightings by a navy ship in the middle of the ocean. We also have a portal in the ocean too."

"One of our oceans have a portal too."

Sky spoken into a his comms.

"Sky to Sanctuary, we suspect a possible attack."

"A dragon attack?"

"As you know, the UN has agreed that to avoid confusion, Dragonlord Ember's dragons must wait until the war is over to enter our world to avoid confusion in the event of an attack. I think it's a scout. Alert the FBC, get yourself and the rest of Sanctuary into a coy-52 fighter and take out the dragon."

"Message sent."

"Is your land going to war now?"

"Doubt it, I think the Fyronians wanna know if we'll retaliate. I think they're afraid of human and canine technology. Whatever happens, the militaries of our world have it covered, not need for use to get involved. Our task is for Equus, not Earth."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"There isn't one sure way to win against my kind, and even if there was, do you really think I would tell it to you?" Ruby said with a yawn, ignoring everything that was said after the part regarding her kind, she didn't care enough to listen their conversations that weren't said directly to her "You'll just have to send lot of troops and use your most powerful attacks and hope for the best, after you get through the scales it'll be bit easier." "And for Equestrian dragons, they are lot easier to deal with, your current weaponry should do just fine."

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

Sky, forgetting whatever was happening started to impersonate Ruby.

"Roar! I'm better than ponies roar! I wanna eat my entire team roar!"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, she doesn't doesn't want to eat ME... uh... you don't, right?"

Sky decided to climb up on Ruby's head and declare himself the REAL Ruby.

"The fact they allow Sky to carry a weapon and fly jets terrifies me deeply."

Edited October 1, 2020 by Lucid_Nightlight

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Ruby didn't say anything, instead she just grabbed Sky off from her, threw him away and walked out of the tavern, her patience had ran out, any attempt to tell her to come back would fall on deaf ears, and if anyone, including Quasi, would touch her, they would get pushed away by whatever part of her body happened to be the closest, and if they tried to touch or grab her after that or didn't let go when she pushed them, she would hit them hard enough to hurt them and growl.

She made her way outside and there she would find herself a place somewhere where she could lay down without being in anyone's way and laid down, positioning her head in a way that her vision was blocked either by her own body, a wall, or something else that made sure nobody could position themselves between it and her eyes.

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Ruby? Where you going?"

The dragon followed Ruby out, but kept a distance. Her mind easily showed she was NOT in a good mood. He sat down and tried to talk to Ruby.

"They annoy you too? Yeah... I know, I'm part of the problem, but at least I don't act like the blue coyote. After that, I can see why a land that is killed or be killed would be appealing."

The dragon sighed.

"I know you're in a lot of emotional pain, Ruby. I don't need to hear your mind or sense your emotions to know that. Just the small amount I know is enough."

"I know the feeling, something bad happens, causes emotional pain, and yet, know what really gets you? The small stuff. The guy that won't stop talking, stubbing a claw. The small inconveniences in like, for example, what went on in the tavern is the fuel to the fire, sadly enough, unlike your scales, the mind isn't fully fire proof."

Quasi sighed again.

"Really, everyone has their problems, I see them all the time in the minds of dragons. Recently, other creatures too. The pony lost someone that was loved, the blue coyoted was abused and almost took himself out, the other coyote has regrets, but you, I admit you've had it the worst. Got more details from Mira's mind, why would a mother do such a thing do her own daughter? No wonder you've turned out the way you did."

"Tell me Ruby. What gets you the most? If you could changed the world around you, what would you change?"

If there was one thing Quasi knew, thinking was a distraction from the pains of life. His idea was to get Ruby's mind distracted if anything Quasi gained from sensing emotions, the dragon gained empathy.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"You don't get it." Ruby muttered scratching the ground "If you sense such things, I cannot argue with that, but you're wrong if you think this is to do with my past." "None of you get it, you're unable to understand it." her tone was mixture of anger and tiredness "It is in my nature to kill, and as you know, most of my life I have lived in environment that only made that instinct stronger, you really think I have just...gotten over it?" "I need to constantly keep myself from falling back to my instincts, that is why I don't drink." 

"They're not entirely wrong about me, I do want to kill each and every one of them, including you." she was getting more and more pissed as she continued, digging her claws into the ground "So imagine...or just check, since you like going into others' heads so much, you are constantly making the effort to go against your own nature, your own instinct, and everyone around you keep testing your patience, everyone keeps annoying you, even touching you knowing it annoys you, yet if you are to make a single thing to them, you are the monster." 

She turned her head towards Quasi and her eyes were flaming in rage "All you cowards keep acting so big and mighty trying to put me down because you know I won't kill you, because if I dared to do as little as scratch you, I would be the monster, I would get the Princesses with their magic after me!" "For creatures that can't shut up about how great being together is, you truly are awful to be around." she let out some smoke before laying her head back away from Quasi, her words weren't necessarily best chosen for everything she said, but considering her state of mind, it took some effort from to make it so that she didn't just shout at Quasi in her native language, so her speech not being perfect didn't matter to her. "And what would I change? I would make it so that I never agreed to this mission, i should just have killed Arrow and that guard when I first met them." 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

Quasi listened to what Ruby had to say, and despite the anger and flames, the dragon didn't flinch.

"Nature, yeah. Truth is, if someone is sapient and a carnal non-divine being, then it is in that person's nature to do wrong. Theft, robbery, murder, and worse. The average individual thinks about committing murder than you think, and you're hearing this from someone that reads minds. Now, I can tell you how to live, but I cannot make decisions for you, that's up to you. And given the nature of Equestria, I'm sure you've heard speeches with friends and rainbows."

"And Ruby, I don't think you're a monster. And my world has seen monsters. And really, I'm not liking this adventure thing either, it's nothing like the stories Mira use to read me."

Quasi had an idea. He took a piece of paper from his bag, looked at it, and put it back.

"You know, maybe there isn't a need to live like this. You want to return to your land, yeah? Well, why wait? After this mission is over, you could go your stolen cave, kill your mother, and live the rest of your life doing whatever you do. I'll even help you! I won't kill your mother, I'm pretty sure you want to do that, no one else, but I'm sure I can help you somehow! So what if the world punches first? You have the fire breath, not the world."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"If it was that easy, you really think I would be here still?" Ruby pointed out half-growling "You think that I can just walk there without any problems and slash her throat when she sleeps?" "You really believe I would lower myself to live among ponies in the first place if it was that simple?" "How do you think I ended up in a ravine without food and unable to move?" "While I hate my mother, and though it is her fault I ended up there, she would at least finish the job, she would have probably had her fun of course, but she would have killed me eventually." 

She suddenly got up and stepped towards Quasi, if he was to look into her head, there would be one thing above everything, anger, and not the type of anger that was directed at him, but the type that was directed towards the world, the type born from pain. She really looked like she was going to attack, but she didn't, she just continued with the half-growling tone, "All you do is talk talk talk, everyone acts like they know everything better than I do, everyone has perfect solutions to my every problem!"

"Do you know what it is like to lose everything?" "I had everything I wanted, I had made my way to the top, dragons many times older than I feared me." "I was planning on getting offspring of my own, the time was right." she calmed down for fraction of a second before continuing with the same level of anger "I got beaten down again and again and again and again, every time I got up and fought back until I no longer could move." "He said it was my lucky day when he didn't bother killing me after throwing me in that ravine, other assured he cared, only to...." she didn't finish the sentence, but there was a moment of the same emotional distress that had been there during her nightmare, she continued "So save your meaningless words, I don't want advise, I don't want suggestions, I don't want your lies." she then laid back down, again making sure she wouldn't end up looking at anyone if she didn't want to "Now shut up, I want to finish my nap, and if you wake me up this time, I will rip off rest of your legs." 

It may or may have not been Quasi's purpose, but he had managed to hit the right nerve to get Ruby reveal more than she had originally wanted to, though her tiredness and general irritation had helped with that, but she had also meant what she had said last, as evidenced by both her mind and her possible reactions if Quasi decided to try his luck and not stop bothering her.

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

Quasi didn't try to talk to Ruby this time, he didn't want to stress her out. He would however focus on her mind. Certainly he could help her.

And Ruby was almost right. Quasi knew what it was like to lose everything, he's seen the feelings in other dragons, the issue was, he's never experienced that himself.

He wanted to say something, tell her it was okay, that there was a solution, but this wasn't the time. She was hurt and in pain. When he knew the dragon was sleeping, he took out his paper, the one he looked at talking to Ruby.

He wrote turn this paper into a book. And then the paper was a book.

He then whispered. "My secret weapon, for the mission only for emergencies, and something else."

Of course, he couldn't use it and be some super overpowered dragon, he learned something from Ruby. He wanted a challenge.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
If she wasn't woken up by something or someone, Ruby would sleep for 4-5 hours, but she wouldn't get up right away if there wasn't any immediate danger nearby when she woke up, and would instead just lay there.

What came to her mind, there wasn't much Quasi would be able to get out of it, because now that she stopped communicating with him, her thought went back to her native language, as that was the one that came naturally. For emotion, at first there was what one would expect after an outburst like she had, but when she fell asleep, it changed to a kind of a neutral state where only things was certain level of wariness, and even in the dreaming state, if she wasn't woken up before it, there was only the usual lack of emotions one would expect from her, no nightmares this time.

One thing one may notice, would be how quickly she seemed to heal, as her injuries would heal during her sleep quickly enough that if you looked at them, you could see it happen very slowly. They would still be far from fully healed, but if one wasn't staring at her the whole time, they would most likely be able to tell the difference when they saw her again. 
 

She wasn't aware of Quasi's actions or whispering since she had been asleep.

Edited October 9, 2020 by Catpone Cerberus

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

The dragon would step out and notice Ruby was awake. He could've easily used his secret weapon to understand Ruby's language or have the language translate to his, but the idea simply wouldn't cross his mind at the time.

"You're awake, hopefully your feeling better."

While she was asleep, Quasi had wrote something in the book. Only in this circle allow the 5th to last page to have full power. Only allow physical changes that may have power, but not make one invincible or totally undetectable by sight through the magic.

Animus magic had a thing about being specific or you may not get what you want, but Quasi guessed he was specific enough. The powerful page was a failsafe in case something went wrong, he also ripped that page from the book, little did he know, that choice would come back to get him and his team, who would face a great challenge later on.

"Ruby, Arrow has located the portal while you were asleep, it isn't far from here. Let's go through, win this war, and... well I've actually thought about something."

"Maybe we could discuss a strategy for your plan to regain what was stolen. Mira was quite protective of me and taught me many things. I have a secret weapon, but it won't guarantee a victory, accept for one page, but I'm keeping that one for the mission only and only as a f- hey get out from my bag!"

A koala dug through his bag and took the page and ran through the portal.

"So like... that was my page with full access to animus magic and... uh... that koala could be anywhere, so... I guess we don't have a fail safe. Let's hope the page doesn't get into the wrong talons."

This was embarrassing. Defeated by the koala.

He still had the book at least!

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Ruby was still tired from waking up and in full honestly hadn't paid full attention so she wasn't sure what just happened and decided to respond to the only thing she was sure she heard, it hadn't helped that she was still staring at the spot she had faced before her nap. "Most of what you just said went straight past me, but no, I won't be using, nor will I accept help from someone using any magic or magical weapons when it comes to my revenge." "Also, before I'll go anywhere, I need something to eat, does the tavern offer some actual food or do I go for a hunt?" something about a koala, magic, portals and books, that's all she got, she didn't even know what koala was.
 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Alright, if you wanna fight fair, go ahead. And food? Yeah this tavern serves food. Do you like deer? Bear? Mountain lion? Fruit? I alright with fruit, but meat is totally better. And mountain lions are too skinny for me. Deer's pretty good, but it might freak out the pony. Bear has a lot of fat on it. I wonder what a basket ball is, a pony mentioned it, must be delicious. So, what do you want?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"It's less about fairness and more about principle." Ruby simply stated "And any meat is fine by me as long as there is enough of it, I don't eat fruit, I also don't care what that dragon-hunter thinks about it." "Basketball is a toy that ponies throw inside a hoop, don't ask me why, it's a pony thing." As they would make their way inside, before they would be able to reach the door, someone landed in front of them, ignoring them, but being in the way before heading inside. Ruby seemed to be able to sense the arrival as she had stopped before their way was blocked, which she did, thanks to the amount of metal.

They were wearing an armor made of some kind of dark metal, and carrying a spear/glaive made of the same metal, and at first glance it was a pony-sized red dragon, but when one took a better look, they would realize that her body proportions were that of a pony mare, and that she had hooves, Ruby seemed like she recognized this creature. After she had landed, a crow came not long after and sat on one of her horns. 

When the pony-shaped dragon got inside, she scanned the space with her eyes before heading straight towards Arrow "Arrow I assume?" Her voice was closer to a mare than a dragon, and her tone was professional, very guard-like. 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Friend of yours?"

-------------------------------

Arrow looked at the dragon-pony, he liked the armor, it looked strategically superior to the golden looking armor royal guards used. A lot more difficult to spot in battle than something that gleamed in the sun.

"Yes, this is Arrow. Please state your business."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"Acquaintance." "A neighbor to be exact." Ruby explained in her usual tone "We haven't really talked." she would then continue her way inside.
-------------------------
"I was hired to kill few individuals, you don't need to know the details, but the short version is, I was told to find you as we have a common goal." "Name is Ember." Ember responded before dropping the professional tone "But don't be mistaken, you have no authority over me, it's merely a 'enemy of my enemy' situation."

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

The dragon went inside and went to the counter.

"Raw bear."

The dragon placed some coins on the counter. The bartender would soon come out with bear meat.

"Bounty hunter? Pretty interesting work, did some work like that, was also a mercenary. Dragons were my main target. Are you after the Fironian leader too? Who sent you? I heard the red one say something about being a neighbor to her, so does that mean you're Equestrian, then?"

"A bounty hunter? Are you part of a government agency like myself and Myra?" The coyote gestured to the other coyote  that was more adorned in jewels.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Before she said anything, Ember turned to look at Ruby and looked thoughtful for a second before a realization hit her "This explains some things." she then turned back towards the rest "The leader isn't my main target, there's others higher in my priority, individuals who would most likely go ignored by your group." "Who hired me, isn't your business, the names of those who hire me is confidential information." "And yes, I am Equestrian." she then looked at the coyote "Also, no, I don't work for any organization, what I do is technically speaking illegal, but since the royal guard is so useless, the princesses let me continue because I take care of problems that their troops are too incompetent to handle." 

Meanwhile Ruby said to Quasi "She sometimes gets unwanted visitors and I have helped her to....clean up after, that's why I find it rather surprising she hadn't figured out I was a dragon." 

[Lucid_Nightlight 926]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Can't she make it like... Not illegal? Whatever, I still have to report that to my government. They'll probably slap a few sanctions on Equestria or something."

"If it really illegal if the leaders say it's allowed. So technically that means it's legal for her, right?"

"Alrighty, you can come with us. Just don't get upset if the blue coyote climbs on your head and claims to be the real Ember."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,666]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"Of course they can't make it legal, allowing killing of any kind publicly would mean they have to break the illusion of Equestria's perfectness." Ember stated rather coldly "You learn a lot when you interact with the types of individuals I do." "I of course never said any of this." she then looked at the blue coyote "And while I won't do anything if someone tries something like that, that someone may lose their eyes." and immediately after she said it, her crow let out a caw and jumped from the horn on top of her head "Crows can be quite dangerous." 

"She's not kidding, that bird is brutal." 

"So, who exactly are you all? I know who Arrow and Ruby are, but you rest? I was told about someone called Quasi, I assume it's you..." she pointed at Quasi "...but that's all I know aobut that, and nobody mentioned any talking dogs."