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

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Ruby would not give any attention to the dogs, because as stated, she didn't care "I won't wait for you Quasi, so either hurry up or you'll have to try and track me down later." her destination was still some distance away, she wasn't going to settle down on the edge like the young weaklings did, and it wasn't like the dogs could bother there anyway, they would not make it there. She also meant what she said, she would continue on her way regardless of what Quasi decided to do with the dogs. 

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"I already said that I have no use for things that are worthless in Equestria." "As it stands in current day your paper-money is useless in Equestria, and even if by some miracle anyone would want buy a piece of metal that they can't use in Equestria, I'm a bounty hunter, not a weapons dealer in the black market." she looked at Sky "And I'm still expecting that gold you promised me for the last mission, wouldn't want to be forced to pay you a visit." Ember had a sense of humor, but when it came to her work, she took things very seriously, and there was only one type of payment she took, things that had direct worth in money, and not just any money, Equestria's money, bits. "Every moment you use wasting my time will also be included in the charge, There's plenty of those who are actually willing to pay for my services, so my time is expensive." she wasn't just a random bounty hunter, she had made a name for herself and while it was known that she was expensive, she was also known for the quality of her work.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

"You best get going. Do not stop until you make it out of this land."

Quasi melted part of his spear onto the edges of the coyote's swords.

"Only engage in combat if you have to, you now have a chance, but the chances are still low. If you need to stop, find some hole too small for a dragon and stay there for the night."

"Thank you, there is a group of Cryoni soldiers waiting at a hole we flew over. They will escort us one we make it there. By the way, my name is Strings, the mother is Molly, and the child is Alex."

"I'm Quasi and the meanie is Ruby."

The dogs were off.

"So, we aren't staying here, I assume? That small pile of... are those bones? Not even a skeleton. Skulls? Seriously? Are we leaving now or staying the night? If we're staying the night, keep watch, I think someone owns this place. That or someone did own this place and is dead now."

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"Sell it in my land and purchase you dumb gems, maybe you can propose to Arrow, I don't care. Stop being so difficult."

"Pay him a visit?"

"She probably means kill us or whatever. I'd like to see her try."

"Don't underestimate her, Sky, she's faced a lot, I'm sure."

"Huh propose to m-? I mean, *ahem* well, how many bits are you looking to get? I'm sure I can work something out."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"We'll go bit deeper, this is the territory of someone lot younger than me, they are watching us, but they know it's better to not get involved with me." It would be about half an hour more flying before Ruby landed, nobody bothered them as the flew, but after few territories the owners of the territories started to be visible, and deeper into the lands they went, bigger those dragons were, and closer they got to them, but everyone was still smaller than Ruby, showing well the fact that the age of the owners grew deeper they got.

When they arrived to the destination, Ruby landed on a bottom of a ravine, the ravine didn't have piles of bones or such, but there was something that may get Quasi's attention was the remains of a dragon that was smaller than Ruby, the remains being there wasn't itself anything weird here, but the positioning it was in was more odd, that combined with the damage on what was left of the dragon made it pretty clear that it had been in pain before it died. "Still around I see." Ruby suddenly said facing the remains.

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"Or maybe you just pay with something that has direct worth instead of trying to force me to waste my time by going on a pointless trip to another world." Ember said "That way you don't need to worry about seeing me again when you're busy licking your leaders' backsides." She continued before addressing Arrow's question "I need to do some calculations for the exact amount, but the baseline is 500 per hour and 5000 for each life taken. I'll take extra from any problems caused by lack of information or actions of someone I'm forced to work with. I take double the hourly price for wasted time and take extra for any equipment besides my armor and weapon that I need to provide myself. I also take extra for especially dangerous or challenging work." she wasn't kidding when she said she was expensive "I also accept the payment in equivalent weight of gold, gems or any other things with immediate worth." this would be technically more expensive than paying her with money, but one should consider that she couldn't necessarily sell everything at their highest possible cost "The cheapest option for you would be pay in advance, all I need is the estimated time how long it will take and I'll figure out the price." "You could also just let me take as much as I deem necessary from the treasury you are planning to take over without any dogs or humans from different world bothering me, and I'll consider my services paid." "What I say for sure that at this point Sky own me at least 20 000 worth of bits, which I can also take from the treasury if you wish, I don't care where the money comes from as long as I get it and it isn't traceable." 

 

 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Hey, you alright?" The dragon said to the dead guy jokingly.

Quasi looked around.

"I've always envisioned you living in a cave in a mountain. Your mom take the good one? I wanna fight something! When do I get to fight things?"

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"Whatever, no one actually cares what we do with the treasury gems, so take it all for all, whatever."

"Can I get something to use to marry Myra?"

"We've already got married. You know, the ceremony, royal Dasonian wedding? You know, your team were surprised we married at age 20 and the fact you suddenly got married with someone you only just met?"

"Married at 20?"
 

"Most Dasonians marry at 18 or 19. Usually not older than that, but older is okay never younger, as that would be seen as wrong in our culture. The other Nomadikan packs are the same in terms of that. Also Dasonians make very good tea."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"My mother has my cave, this is the hole I was stuck in." Ruby said as she walked towards a cave that was in the ravine "That male is the one who decided to take advantage of my situation." "And if it's fight you want, just look behind you, though I suggest dropping your stuff first, you need any speed you can get." and just as she said it, loud growl could be heard behind him, a female dragon, about the size of Ruby was coming towards him and soon enough attacked him. This fight would be nothing like the duel with Ruby had been, as this dragon was actually trying to kill him, though if Quasi paid attention, he would realize that the dragoness was aiming for his fake leg, his weak point.

Meanwhile Ruby got company of her own, a male of the same size came from the opposite direction, the ravine was split between two territories, though Quasi wouldn't have much time to worry about Ruby since he had trouble of his own, not that Ruby had any trouble, she was mainly just toying with her opponent for her own amusement.

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"You better keep that word." Ember said coldly, un-readying herself and relaxing her wings again, "So we done wasting time? Or does someone still want to declare how great they are?" she had no comment on the marriage thing because those two hadn't really given her any reason to care, or well, Sky hadn't.

 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

Quasi dropped is stuff and moved fast. The female would soon find that his fake leg was actually the hardest and strongest part of his body. It was mostly a defensive thing at the moment as it wouldn't hurt the dragon, but Quasi tried something. He took pieces of the spear and put them on his metal claws, melting them on carefully while dodging the attacks. He'd then scratch the face of the dragon as if to say 'don't try it'

It was at this moment, it was clear, Quasi wasn't gonna hold back this time. This wasn't Ruby, so he was willing to kill the dragon. Any move he made, defensive or offensive was carefully calculated fast. He knew what he was doing. He'd then jokingly speak in the dragon's language!

"Aw, is someone angry? Try not to cry when I hit you!"

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"Yeah sure, do whatever, eat all the gems you like."

"We should go."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
It wouldn't take long for the dragoness to change tactic, she wasn't any more stupid than Ruby after all, going after Quasi's throat like Ruby had warned, also breathing fire towards him, he would find that Ruby hadn't lied when she said her kind doesn't give up, this dragon would take quite a beating before even slowing down. 

To Quasi's words he would get a response, a response he would be able to hear Ruby saying to her opponent too, at almost exactly the same moment, words that if he understood them, translated roughly to "Worthless male, I'll do what your mother failed to do!" only difference was that after that, from Ruby's side, it was followed by quite horrid screech of pain from the male, and when Quasi eventually got done with his trouble, not the easiest feat out there, he would find Ruby standing over the fallen male who was begging for mercy from her while clearly in pain, and the hatred that Ruby was feeling towards the male was so deep that Quasi wouldn't need to dig into her mind to feel it.
 

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"I already said I don't eat gems, you have bigger ears than me yet you have awful hearing it seems." Ember said, it was hard to tell if it was a joke or an insult "Then let's go, we don't have all month."

 

 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

Quasi would counter the attacks quickly, not getting hit by flames. He would then cut off one of the dragon's claws and stab it through her eye. Why this wasn't a killing blow and was likely to make the other dragon more dangerous, he didn't care, this was just part of the fun.

He'd then say something in a sarcastic tone in their language.

"You're breaking my heart, did your mother never love you?"

He'd then say something to Ruby.

"No offense."

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Sky and the others started heading to the treasury.

"How long until Quasi gets himself killed in Ruby's land?"

"He'll make it, dragons are resilient."

"I say 10 minutes!"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Ruby was too busy with her victim to hear what Quasi said, but based on the utter confusion he got as a response from the dragoness he was fighting, it was pretty clear that his attempt at insult was a miss, mostly because the dragon didn't know what breaking one's heart and love meant, so she had no idea what Quasi meant. Other than that much wouldn't change, the dragoness would just get angrier and more aggressive both physically and verbally, she was more animalistic than Ruby, like Ruby had said at some point regarding her kind.

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"I think Ruby will keep him alive." Ember suggested, unpopular opinion for sure "There has to be a reason why she would even let him to come with her, especially considering that he doesn't really have a chance there, he isn't even fireproof." "And regardless of what you think of Ruby, it's clear she's not the type to do things without a reason, getting him there only for him to die would be too pointless for her to do."

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

Quasi would take her claw from her eye and attempt to put it in her neck. What he says translated roughly

"Wow, I've fought geckos stronger than you."

That was technically true, but that's due to a really young dragon getting ahold of the book he once had. He wasn't gonna say that part, it'd ruin his insult.

He did tell Ruby in English.

"I'm serious, some kid was playing with the book."

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"Maybe Ruby is falling for him. That or she gave her something shiny."

"Maybe both, assuming Ruby is capable of love. She is the first of her kind I had the chance to know. Very formidable."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Again Ruby was too busy to say anything, and again Quasi's insult missed, as the dragoness didn't know what geckos were. He would need to hurry up with the kill, because while he was currently in the lead, the hostile dragoness would outlast him due to not having flown for almost a full day, no magic would protect him from fatigue after all.

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"I wouldn't go that far." Ember said "Though it may be that she figured out how to use Quasi's love for her own benefit." "Or she's just lonely and needed someone who doesn't treat her like a monster to talk to, I'm sure that gets tiresome, even for someone like her." 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

Quasi would role his eyes and go in for the kill, he bit into the dragon's neck at full force.

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"Well, Ruby wouldn't be the first non-loving thing to love or whatever. Maybe the first of her own kind, but not the first non-loving person, even if she is incapable of love, I wouldn't be surprised actually, we're talking about a world where people break into song."

"Yeah, is that a cultural thing?"

"No idea. Hey, Ember, any idea why?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
The dragoness would struggle until its neck would get broken, going out like it had lived, angry and hateful. Meanwhile Ruby's opponent was still alive, and Ruby was sitting some distance away just watching him, the male was whining in agony, seemingly unable to move, the only movement being the involuntary convulsion and other bodily reactions. "He's dying, not saving this one." Ruby said when Quasi was done "What does your morals say?" "He's helpless, unable to defend himself, and he never attacked you, so you can't claim self defense and kill him." "But is it morally good to let someone suffer? to die slowly in indescribable agony?" she got up and started moving her stuff again, bringing them deeper in the cave "I personally enjoy his cries, it brings up good memories." the cave was less a cave and more a cave system, and it went deep in many directions, some of which had collapsed, but Ruby seemed to know where she was going.

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"Ask a pony, nobody I know has had the answer, probably something to do with Equestria's history, and I'm not a historian." Ember said "But how I see it, it's mostly a positive thing, as it seems to bring the ponies together and makes it easier for kids to learn things." "The former thing being something that seems to be missing from places that don't have creatures suddenly bursting into random songs." 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

Quasi took out a few herbs from his pouch and would tend to the dragon.

"Nomeno geou pok wer loerchik."

If he can save the dragon, he would, but if not, he could at least stop the pain and let the dragon die comfortably.

"Without love, what is there to fight for, Ruby? Even if the ones I fight for are gone, I have their memory to fight for. You only have yourself, but what if you lose love for yourself? What would you have left?"

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"The songs... and colorful ponies make this place look like a little kids show that adults watch."

"I imagine my life as words on a screen sometimes."

"But that's silly, I don't see words, I see a tree, some grass, and very little words."

"Yeah, true. Are we there yet"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
There was no saving the dragon, Ruby had made sure of it, and Quasi would need to do everything when it came to tending, the dragon was either too weak or too unwilling to do as little as willingly eat something. "Survival." Ruby would only say as she made her way deeper into the cave system.

Regardless of if Quasi followed her or not, she would drop her things in a dead end that had old furniture in it, a table, a chair, and bookshelves filled with books in both Ruby's language and in English, before turning back and walking back out, at which point she walked next to the dying dragon and ripped its head off, pushing Quasi away if he tried to stop her, this was her land, she did what she wanted here. 

She then sat down and looked at the remains that already were there before they arrived, memories filling her head, first bringing her joy similar to what she had felt during the other dragon's suffering, but soon filling her head with familiar darkness, Quasi still wouldn't be able to figure out the exact memory, as she wasn't thinking about whatever it was that she remembered, instead the thoughts on the top that one could read were her own words echoing in her head, more specifically, insults and threats she had presumably said to the dragon before its eventual death.  

This was the place where she had hit the quite literal rock bottom, and this was the place where she would start rising up again.

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Ember didn't really have anything to say regarding the topic anymore "How don't you know when we are there?" "What kind of mission is this if you don't even know where you are going?" 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Survival is meaningless, survival is for the ones too weak to thrive and you're stronger than such meaningless things like survival."

He looked at the female dragon he killed. He remembered how he took out an eye with it's own claw and used it to stab the dragon's neck before biting.

"Anywho, hard lessons take more than one to learn, so let's talk about another thing. A good kill?" He asked pointing to the dragon.

"I'm not eating that, just so you know."

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"I know where we're going. Our targets will start from one area and gradually close in on the leader. They're leader is too overconfident to run off and the line of communication makes this method more practical. Pretty terrible strategy that the leader has."

"They're relying on firepower, I'd say. But the question is why. Our forces should be more than capable of destroying them, so what's stopping us?"

"It isn't Tirek, he's locked up. Can't be Discord, he's reformed. Maybe Chrysalis?"

"You mean those changelings? Don't they like replace babies or something?"

"I think that is just a legend from your world."

"I don't think it's changelings. She isn't capable of replacing a dragon with influence, and gaining influence as a new dragon would be troublesome."

"I know a draconequus that knows about other draconequus, one of great power that he is to defeat. She worked with someone previously, and betrayed her, taking most of her power. She was known to take the forms of dragons, perhaps she is using the little power she has to rule."

"A draconequus, so we're gonna lose?"

"No, not entirely, given the weakened state, someone such as Ruby could take her on, but even she would walk out unscathed if she won."

"She's gone rogue."

"And that's what scares me. Ember, what are the chances that Ruby will join the Fironians?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"I didn't really follow your fight but considering you're still alive and moving, I guess it was good enough." Ruby said after breaking out of her thoughts "Your insults were awful though, you have to remember that most of my kind doesn't have nearly as big of an vocabulary as I have." "Even if something has a word in my language, it doesn't necessarily mean anything for my kind." she got up and started dragging the dead female closer to the cave, then doing the same for the male "You want to take a trophy from your first kill?" 

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"Between not likely and very likely, I'd say its somewhere around 'wouldn't be surprised'." Ember said "I don't think she would get fooled by promises of riches and such, but she seemed the type to join the enemy just to spite someone." "And while I don't know what happened before I joined you, from her words I got the picture that from her point of view, you used her." "That's why I think her banishment was a mistake caused by lack of foresight, because if you think about it only from her point of view, she just got punished for refusing to bow down to weaker creatures, and considering that she wants to kill her own mother, I don't think it would be far-fetched to say that she may join Fironians just to go against you and Equestria."

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

"A trophy? Maybe I could make weapons and armor from the bones and horns and use them as decoration. Oh and teeth! Good for spears."

"Is that a little messed up?"

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

"We'll need to make use of explosive weapons."

"And my enchanted weaponry. Good thing I've slain many dragons."

Myra looked up at a few dragons headed their way.

"Like those?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"You seriously asking me if something is messed up?" Ruby questioned as she started to peel the male dragon like he was a fruit, separating the scales from the skin in one piece. "Everyone has their own way of celebrating victories, some just let the bodies rot, some eat them, some do rituals." "I personally just take a piece of them that doesn't need maintenance if I deem them challenging enough to deserve that." "This one doesn't deserve it." 

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Ember readied her weapon "Ruby isn't like Equestrian dragons, she has also most likely observed your fighting, you shouldn't underestimate anyone." "Making your enemies underestimate you is a strategy used by many, and it's surprisingly effective." she had time to get her thoughts out before the potential fight would begin, she wasn't worried, she had taken on many dragons during her life, they were very popular bodyguards.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Well, weapons would take effort and seeing you peel the scales is almost hard to stomach, so armor is a little messed up for me, wearing the scales of a dragon and all, I'm no savage. Eh, maybe weapons are worth the effort, decorating the walls wouldn't hurt. If you're alright with that."

It was obvious that Quasi wasn't enjoying the sight of a peeled dragon.

"Please don't eat that, I can catch you real food if you want to eat."

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"FIRONIA!" A dragon yelled.

When the dragons approached, Arrow put down his weapon, jumped up and snapped a large dragon's neck. Arrow was using magic to enhance his strength.

Myra fired with her bow, using explosive arrows.

Ace and Sky opened fire on the dragons with their rifles. Ace knew what he was doing, hitting each one. Sky was doing well too, as he was well trained, but was not nearly the same level of experience Ace was.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"You can do whatever you want to do with your kills, there's plenty of dead ends in the caves, you can decorate one with flowers and rainbows as far as I care." Ruby stated as she finished with the headless dragon's scales, putting the now separate scales on the ground next to herself. "As long as you don't complain about what I do, I have no reason to care about what you do." she then started to gather bones from the dead male, this wasn't nearly as clean as the scales had been, which probably wasn't a surprise, but at the same time, it also probably wasn't as...unpleasant to watch considering that Quasi too was a carnivore.
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Ember used bit less aggressive tactics than the others, first getting her target's attention, then fighting defensively with them for a moment, and after few moments she would strike them with single well placed stab from her weapon which would either kill them or injure them enough for her to finish them without further fight. Her exact actions changed depending on the size and amount of dragons she was fazing at the moment, but she always managed to take them down with similar pattern. This meant that her kill count would most likely be less than the others, but that didn't matter, she was a bounty hunter, not a soldier, she believed in quality over quantity.

The crow meanwhile...was somewhere, it was hard to tell as there was suddenly a big murder of crows just kinda existing around them, taking advantage of the free buffet the fight left behind for them, and Ember's crow was somewhere among those crows.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

He took the bones apart from the female and whittled with the metal claws. After some time, he made a sword, great for a dragon his size. It was nice and sharp.

"Even if I choose not to use the weapons, I like to have my weapons authentic. It's a novelty thing."

Quasi Nix was careful, he could dish out good hits, but he was a glass cannon and even a pony could kill him if they had good magic or a weapon, his training and mind reading was his best advantages.

"Hmm... not as good when whittled flat, perhaps spiked hammers and spears would make good weapons due to the denseness of the bones. Swords actually are good with a slight flexibility and little to no brittleness, I did not expect a sword to work well. No, not entirely made of bone, but good for decorations. Looks intimidating. What animals should I expect, anything particularly good?"

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Myra, behind on kills like Ember, kept firing, an arrow can only shoot so fast

"A little slow on kills for a dragonpony."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Ruby didn't comment on the weapons as she didn't much know about them, nor did she really care about them "Animals? You mean prey?" "Mostly deer and boars, they are the only ones big enough to be worth the effort." "You'll most likely find them to be bigger and bit more aggressive than the ones you're used to, they too had to adapt to survive in place like this after all." they looked similar enough to be recognized as what they were, but they were quite different to their relatives from different parts of the world, or worlds. 

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"How many dragon-ponies have you met exactly? because I haven't met any besides myself." Ember said in slightly questioning tone "And I'm a bounty hunter, I'm closer to an assassin than a soldier, I'm haven't exactly trained to take down armies, quite the opposite, I try to avoid collateral damage." 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Catpone Cerberus

"We can probably handle them. Prey isn't strong."

The nightwing had a question.

"Why do you need to plan so much to take down your mother?"

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"True, true. Not many of those."

Arrow kept fighting taking down massive dragons. Soon, the dragons retreated.

"Hm."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,594]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Ruby never saw it as a question if they could handle prey, she just had notified Quasi that they may not be what he expects "Because she's many times bigger than me and is equally strong related to others of her age as I am for my age." "My claws simply aren't long enough to penetrate her scales, she is physically superior, so I need to outsmart her." "It doesn't hurt to grow bit in size either."

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Ember mostly focused on those who got through the others like she had done on the ship, she didn't see a reason to get involved if someone was already handling something. 

As the dragons retreated, Ember simply put her weapon away, the crows meanwhile flew all in covering the remains of those killed. "Don't lower your guards quite yet, this could be a fake retreat."