open Invisible Thread (1x1 with Catpone Cerberus)

[Lucid_Nightlight 929]

 

OOC: 

 

 

A few years ago, things have changed. Portals to other worlds were opened by an evil draconequus named Gladia, leader of the long since destroyed Fironia. After Gladia's death, not all was fully well. Equestria faced secession with a new nation forming, eventually settling on the name Harmonia, a nation that after a legal secession was attacked by Equestria, eventually being able to fend off the Equestrian advance and the war ending in the two sisters becoming reformed once again and the Earthlings staying out of the affairs of Equus and other worlds.

In all the worlds that appeared, issues were mostly resolved but, as known in Equus, when a problem is solved, another will take place eventually. This was no different.

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 929]

@Catpone Cerberus

Somnus walked the halls with a professional demeanor, though, he would look briefly as his portrait, every prime minister got one. He'd give a slight sigh, remembering his brief time as Harmonia's first Prime Minister, though he felt it was important for the time he was there, he was quick to step down when someone else was able to take his place, that being first Mayor Mare from Ponyville then as of now, Bronzehoof, who was previously a general during the Harmonian-Equestrian War, the victory parade was a glorious day in his mind.

Somnus soon regained his train of thought and continued down the halls into an interrogation room, where he'd sit down.

"Hello, Flint, my name is Somnus, I know why you were arrested but, I'd like to hear it from you."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,761]

@Lucid_Nightlight
In an empty interrogation room sat unusual creature, at first glance, you wouldn't be blamed for thinking she was just a purple, wingless dragon, but you would be wrong, as the creature was no dragon, and rather a nature defying mix of fur and scale, unicorn with dragon's body, a biological impossibility, yet that was the leas odd thing about her. The first thing to notice was her odd sense of...clothing? her torso was surrounded by metal, cage like piece, and her limbs had metal  rings around them, two each, and regardless of attempts from plenty of individuals, these could not be removed from her body, magically nor physically, it was almost like they were part of her. Part of her was also a piece of assumed decoration, a golden piece under her horn shaped like an eye, fused as a part of her forehead.

Even after getting past that, there was still more to see, as palms of her hands and her stomach had slightly glowing red symbols on them and her eyes, the eyes were neither dragon or a pony, and instead they were unnatural black, with equally unnaturally blue iris. Truly an unusual sight, yet, very familiar to those working to uphold the law.

"♪Big girls don't scream, Heart like Nightmare night, Make me feel alive, They try to put me In the corner♪..." She sang quietly to herself as she waited, this wasn't anything new to her, and the only reason why she was still here was because she liked to humor the guards, jails and prisons never held her for long "♪I've been causin' way too much Trouble Trouble, I've been causin' way too much Trouble Trouble♪..." she threw her head backwards, looking at the roof, this was so boring. 

Then her ear twitched, hoof steps, was she finally getting a friend?

When Somnus entered, Flint followed him with her eyes , smirking "Haven't seen you before." she remarked as he sat down. 
To Somnus's question, she shrugged "Could be the over 200 fires I have caused in the last year, or the 20 or so escapes form custody, or all the stuff I stole, or the kidnappings, is stealing old magical stuff counted as grave robbing?" "Or did some of the nations outside Equestria finally ask to get me? I think at least three of them want me dead." the way she said it made clear she had no regrets "I did also punch a guard yesterday, was that it?" she genuinely had no idea why exactly she was here this time, she had stopped listening to the drivel about her rights and about what she was being arrested for after the third time she had been arrested, which was now at least 17 times ago.

[Lucid_Nightlight 929]

@Catpone Cerberus

Somnus blinked for a moment, then regained composure.

"Those are... some of the reasons, the ones you've not seen trial and been found guilty of, you're still considered innocent until proven guilty. However, you have a magical weapon that is on the list of magical artefacts deemed too dangerous for the civilian population. We don't know what it does, but we think either Gladia or Darkstalker made the item. Of course, they're dead, so we can't ask them. That's why we need to lock the item away and possibly disenchant it. If we cannot disenchant the item, we may try to have it destroyed."

"So, let's make a deal. As it stands now, you've committed crimes serious enough to get the death penalty. You've got four choices. Lethal injection, arrow to your heart, hanging, or you could give us the artefact and we can reduce your sentence to one that you may eventually go home alive."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,761]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"You too? darn, that makes at least four" Flint declared with disappointed tone "Guess I need to stop giving myself up." she scratched her head thoughtfully with a free hand, which was odd since she was restrained...or at least had been, both of her hands were free now "And weapon? you need to be more specific, and are you sure you didn't already take it?" she looked Somnus in the eyes with her unnatural stare, she had a blank expression, yet she still managed to look like she was planning something mischievous "While I haven't found that many after the whole war thing happened, it is still more than one, and how would I know what's a weapon and what's not, I take them because they seem interesting." she narrowed her eyes, bringing her face bit forward towards Somnus "What's your thing, you're not like the other guards, and was't your picture on a wall?"  the changes in her tone and demeanor were quick, going from disappointed to matter-of-fact to suspicious unusually quick, though this shouldn't have been a surprise to Somnus since Flint's erratic emotional state was one of the few things that was well known about her.

[Lucid_Nightlight 929]

@Catpone Cerberus

Someone paying close attention might notice a hint of surprise from Somnus, he wasn't one for being noticed but one would think someone would know who the first prime minister was.

"I was the first Prime Minister of Harmoni- hey how did you get out of your restraints?" Somnus readied his spear. "A sword. It has a hilt that opens. We suspect that opening the hilt will do something, we just don't know what."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,761]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"Ah, that explains, not big into politics." Flint stated casually, leaning back in relaxed manner, the whole of her body language changing again, "And the restrains?" she grinned "You think I would have 20 escapes on my record in this nation alone if your toys actually stopped me?" she eyed the spear, she didn't say anything, but her expression challenged Somnus to use it, she hummed in thought, lowering her hands out of view under the table "A sword... I have this." she pulled out a knife, its handle part had what looked like a plant's root wrapped around it, and the blade had a red symbol on it "...but it isn't a sword, and is older than the war." she then stabbed her own palm with it, but instead of, well, stabbing it, the knife kinda just sank into it and disappeared without trace, she then rubbed her chin "A sword, a sword...have you checked your outside garbage can, I threw few things in there before I let you arrest me."  "I also lit it on fire, so it should be easy to figure out which can it is" 

[Lucid_Nightlight 929]

@Catpone Cerberus

Somnu called some guards to retrieve the item in question from the trash can and to confiscate the knife. They'd come in and bring the sword, surprising undamaged though, it was glowing.

"This sword."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,761]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Confiscating the knife wasn't exactly easy, since it was nowhere to be found, and Flint denied having one at that moment, if suggested, Flint would agree to physical checking of her body, though she would question its purpose since there was no place on her body you couldn't see; there was no knife, or anything else in that matter, the only thing she had with her was the metal she was wearing. 

"Yes, that is a sword." 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 929]

@Catpone Cerberus

Somnus looked at the sword as it glowed brightly and started to shake, he took notice that the hilt was opened, must've melted off in the fire. Suddenly, the sword split into two, both went into the backs of Somnus, and Flint then disappeared. Somnus felt immense pain but as fast as it appeared, it was gone.

"You guys watch her, I'm going to notify Princess Twilight."

The batpony walked out of the room but when he walked 15 feet, he realized something was tugging his back, making him unable to go further. It didn't take a genius to know that if the two parts of the sword went into Somnus and Flint, he was probably stuck to her. Given the situation and not wanting Flint to leave the interrogation room, they'd need to bring Twilight to them.

"You guys need to bring Twilight to this room. I want as many guards as possible protecting her, given our... guest."

He turned to Flint.

"Just so you know, when I was Prime Minister, I've drawn up plenty of plans to assassinate the two sisters, of course I never had to use them but, anything you think of doing, I've thought of it first, so don't expect anything to work."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,761]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Flint tried to catch the sword-half as it went past her, she missed, but that was as much as she thought about it, she did notice pain, but for her it was no reason to suspect anything weird. She did of course make the connection to what probably happened, seeing what happened to Somnus's half, but she had no idea what it meant. Even when Somnus returned to the room and changed his mind on who was going to get Twilight, she had no knowledge of what was going on, due to Somnus having been outside her view when he was stopped, and due to her not moving, and thus not noticing anything odd.

She would soon learn though, as she used the traffic through the door to her advantage, leaping off her chair, over the table, over the guards and through the open door while Somnus was busy trying to threaten her, but just as she had sped up, she reached the 15 feet mark, which was evidenced by confused "Wha-!" followed by loud sound of metal hitting a stone floor. She laid on her back on the floor, quiet at first, but after few seconds she moved her hand to rub the back of her head "Ow" 

[Lucid_Nightlight 929]

@Catpone Cerberus

The issue was obvious. Princess Twilight would walk in hand have Somnus walk, only for him to be unable to go further. Her horn glowed and after it stopped, she pranced in excitement.

"This is amazing! I've never seen animus magic up close! They say it's very powerful! It's a rival to draconequus magic."

"How do we break this spell?"

"I don't know, there's probably a way but I need time to find out. I can't legally put you in a prison cell with Flint, given you were not found guilty of a crime and male and female prisoners are separated anyway. So, instead, Flint will sleep in the barracks."

"What?"

"Don't worry,  you are able to go far enough to have separate beds. So... maybe she won't stab you in your sleep. Not that it would work, trust me, you really don't want to try to hurt each other."

Princess Twilight looked to Flint.

"And Flint. The magic suggests that whoever is the maker of this item is a threat and is alive. We are unsure if this is Gladia or Darkstalker. Because I did detect some draconquus magic as well. Given how these things work, you will need to go to them."

"What I'm saying is this: go over with Somnus, break help break the spell, help stop the threat, and you will be given a full pardon."

"Princess if I may exercise my right to free speech, with all due respect, Flint is very dangerous, we simply cannot have her running around."

"I am the Princess of Friendship. As the Princess of Friendship, I must be a friend to my subjects... or nonsubject... is she a citizen? Regardless, there's an opportunity for her to be better, I'm giving her that chance. We gave it to Discord who was more dangerous, is giving it to her any worse? We'll have it figured our by Friday."

Somnus sighed.

"Good that means she won't embarrass me in front of the chaplain."

Twilight looked at Flint again.

"Do we have a deal? Your help for a pardon? I could also place a 10,000 bit bounty on the mysterious threat."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,761]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Flint took a while to fully recover from her fall, because while the metal around her protected her body, she had hit her head on the floor, and thus she had a mild concussion, it was nothing serious, but it did take a minute for her to get back up, and she would refuse any help in the unlikely case anyone actually offered to help. She seemingly ignored the conversation going on next to her, but looks can be deceiving, as when she was asked 'deal or not' she responded to several things.
 

"Let's not be too quick here" she started, holding a finger up as she said it "Firstly, who are you? a princess of Friendship you said? what kind of title is that?" "Second, technically speaking I haven't been found guilty of anything either, since I always leave before the court date." "Also, Hey!, I'm many things, but I'm not some kind of a night-stabber, that's no fun." she turned to point at Somnus "Also also, I'll be running around regardless of if it's legal on a paper or not."  she then turned back towards Twilight "And no, I'm not a citizen, here, or anywhere really, because in the nation I am originally from, I was declared missing, assumed dead, when I accidentally burned down the orphanage I was in." she said all this in very rapid fire fashion, not leaving room for anyone to interrupt.

She then took a deep breath, putting her hands together "And now for the deal, I'm not weapon for hire, I also don't need money, in fact, I have no place to keep it, or way to transport it with me." "I also don't need a pardon, since I'd probably be back on your wanted list soon after anyway, but, I will still accept the deal....for now, because as it turns out, I'm not too fond of this situation either, as fun as it will be to annoy the bat." she enjoyed the fact that Somnus was stuck with her, but she wasn't as happy about also being stuck with him.

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 929]

@Catpone Cerberus

Twilight blinked for a second after hearing all that.

"Okay then."

Twilight was unsure how else to respond to that.

"You really need to get therapy one day. Though, they'd have their work cut out for them."

"Well, since you are unable to tend to your duties as a guard, return to the barracks. Flint, obviously you need to go too. I'm sure the other guards will find the change of pace interesting."

Somnus gave a nod and started to walk.

"Wait, you burned down your orphanage?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,761]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Flint just smiled at Twilight as a response to her response, but it wasn't a normal, friendly smile, instead it was a pleased smile that verged on self-satisfied grin but didn't quite get there.

She seemingly ignored Somnus's therapy comment, and instead she quietly spoke to herself after Twilight's latter comment, sounding almost excited "I get to sleep in a real bed again? Nice."

Surprisingly enough, she actually followed Somnus without anyone needing to pressure her to do so, but instead of walking, she skipped, trying to hold the slow pace of walking, but eventually just skipping around Somnus again and again. "Well, orphanage may be slightly misleading, it was 'Home for troubled young' or like I like to call it 'Prison for kids who nobody else wanted to deal with', though is there really any real difference."  "But yes, I burned it down, details are bit fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure it was an accident." "Don't worry though, most if not all of the kids survived, the adults however, well, by total coincidence, all of their doors were locked or blocked, and only some guards made it out." the way she said it, it may have not been as coincidental as she said

"Have you ever been in a burning building? the warmth of the fire burning your fur, the beautiful colors consuming everything, the relaxing crackle of the fire as it eats everything it touches? It's mesmerizing, the beauty of it, the feeling of being consumed by it..." she slowed down her skipping for a moment as she seemed to be going to almost trance like state as she described fire, but she then shook her head and snapped back into reality, continuing her normal pace "Anyway, my biggest regret is that I couldn't save 'Scaly', he was my only friend, too bad plush toys are not fireproof even if they look like a dragon." 

[Lucid_Nightlight 929]

@Catpone Cerberus

"I am not too keen on being around fire, kinda freaks me out ever since Nightmare Moon, so if you could not go into detail about fire, I'd appreciate your consideration."

His voice seemed professional, though Somnus did seem to zone out, sing quietly an old battle song from 1000 years ago.

"Fight for sunlight in the darkness, guard the sun, the moon she rises, ominous is her likeness, we'll strike down the moon."

It was clearly a coping mechanism. When they got to the barracks, Somnus seemed to be more at ease.

Guards would look at the prisoner, they knew what was going on but, this was pretty unusual. There were other guards in full uniform, probably keeping a watchful eye on Flint. Somnus would sit down on his bed and open up his laptop, clearly not fully understanding it, given that computers were new and he was 1500 years old.

"Hey! How to I get past this screen thing?"

Another guard would walk over to him and help him.

"Press a random key to continue, then you put in your password."

"I don't have a key and I don't know where to put the key. And since when do you press keys?"

"Key for this means button."

Soon with help, the pony would be able to get into his laptop and watch some sort of cat video. Then a hamster in a ball would roll up to Somnus.

"Hey Fluffball. Wanna watch these cat videos?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,761]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Somnus's response didn't get strong reaction from Flint, partly because she didn't understand the seriousness of the implication even with it being quite obvious, and partly because she had no idea about Nightmare moon or any old songs, she didn't even know who Twilight was, so Equestrian history wasn't really something she had looked into, she was barely aware that the nation had split, and even that she knew only because  places she used to move through had suddenly gotten a border guard. so instead she just shrugged and kept skipping around, starting to sing quietly to herself "♪  I'd sit for hours staring into open flame, something in it had a power, could barely tear my eyes away♪..." it quickly got quiet and unclear enough that it was more humming than actual singing, which was probably better since Flint wasn't really a good singer, singing off-key, but at least she seemed to enjoy it

At the barracks Flint greeted the other guards with a wave, being fully aware that most of them probably didn't like the idea of her being there, and that made her smile, she liked to annoy those with authority, and nobody got as annoyed as those upholding the rules when they couldn't do anything to stop someone. She eyed the area they were in, drew a line in her mind where about was the limit of her movement when Somnus was on his bed, and then picked a bed inside the area, she would try to choose one that looked like it wasn't in use, but ultimately she didn't care if she stole someone else's bed if there was no free ones.

She then quite literally jumped into said bed, landing on her back in a X pose, as her earlier mutterings implied, she hadn't used a real bed in a long while, so even if barrack beds weren't the best out there, this was utter luxury for her. She ignored the situation with the laptop, because even if she would have cared, she didn't, there wasn't much for her to do or say about it because she was out of the loop with technology too, she had seen and used some of the new stuff, so she wouldn't be quite as helpless as Somnus seemed to be, but there wasn't much she could do. 

She laid there for a while, until suddenly she spoke "Oh, Hi little guy" moving her hand to one of the corners of the bed, where a spider walked on her hand, she moved the spider in front of her face "Where's your web? did the mean guards get rid of it?" the spider, being a spider, walked around her hand trying to find a way out, Flint put her hand against a wall and the spider started climbing it up "Go now, it's dangerous down here." 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 929]

@Catpone Cerberus

"The circle thing is spinning again!"

The guard walked over to him.

"Oh, the video is buffering. Just give it a moment and it will be fine."

"This was unimaginable 1,500 years ago."

"You're 1,505."

"Yeah but I was a baby then, I wouldn't be able to imagine anything would I?"

It was interesting to many, Somnus talked a lot like an old man at times but he looked 20.

The batpony looked over at Flint. And realized Fluffball was attempting to attack Flint. Though, he couldn't do much while in a ball.

"Fluffball, stop trying to attack the prisoner. We have rules against that."

The hamster stopped and looked at Somnus.

"Yes, rules apply to you, you're technically one of the guard."

"I KNOW it was done as a joke but you still have official documents!"

Somnus picked up the hamster and took him out of the ball to feed him.

"Wait, was that a spider?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,761]

@Lucid_Nightlight
Flint glanced towards Somnus with the edge of her vision when she overheard the mention of his age, so that was it, she knew there was something weird about him, now the only question was how? since even she knew that pure bat ponies did not live any longer than other ponies, she didn't ponder it too much, since she figured she had plenty of time to learn it, but she already had few guesses, one of them being biological, maybe he was a hybrid like her, having dragon genes most likely did lengthen one's lifespan after all, maybe that was why the weird sword thing chose them two from all the guards, some kind of link to dragonic biology?

She rolled on her side to look at the small creature on the floor, she smiled at it trying to get to her, there didn't seem to be any indication that she minded the hamster, and she just looked at it as it was taken away. She turned her eyes towards Somnus after his question "The one I spoke to? yeah, I almost crushed the tiny thing by accident, so I helped it off the bed."

[Lucid_Nightlight 929]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Interesting, I don't really have to worry about Fluffball hear, he can't actually die. I can't die of old age or get sick or even suffocate. But Fluffball simply is unable to die."

"We fell into this well got the Well of Immortality long ago. Fluffball actually drank the water, so he's essentially indestructible. I only touched the water. "

Dinner was brought out to everyone including Flint, they still had to feed prisoners too after all.

Most guards got something plant based though Flint would be given meat and strangely enough, so would Somnus.

"Salmon, something new nice ."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,761]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"So that explains that." Flint stated, which probably didn't make much sense since as far as anyone else could know, she hadn't heard the previous mention of Somnus's age, since there hadn't been any visible reaction "I'm kind of a tough thing myself, I survived a burning building falling on me when I was tiny, you know, the one I burned, and that was before these..." she pointed at her 'outfit' and the golden eye thing on her forehead "I've been stabbed, beaten, crushed, thrown, slammed,  magically attacked and this one time I fell of a cliff, but I'm still kicking, though after the cliff I couldn't move for few days." "I think I can still die, but it seems that nothing short of dismemberment is permanent." she spoke about it like someone young telling about how they saw a funny duck on the way to home, and she soon forgot about it as she saw the meal coming towards her.

She seemed genuinely exited about the meal when she got her hands on it, and after looking at it from different angles she spoke again, some moments after Somnus's comment "If I knew the food you give to criminals was even half as good as this I would have gotten myself caught long time ago, there isn't even any mold on it." first the bed and now this, weren't she supposed to be a prisoner? she felt more like a luxury guest. She quickly dug into her food, and as probably was to be expected at this point, she had no table manners of any kind, and instead she just stuffed the food down as quickly as she could.

She did take note that Somnus also had meat, but was not really too bothered by it, because she had no idea what ponies actually ate, not to mention the different types of ponies, while she herself was part pony, she had never really interacted with ponies closely enough to learn it for sure, sure she had seen that in public there was mainly plant based foods, but as far as she knew it was a cultural thing, not biological thing. Sure it was bit odd that he was the only one from the guards to have meat, but then again, he was ancient if what was said was true, so maybe his cultural believes were just different due to that.  

[Lucid_Nightlight 929]

@Catpone Cerberus

"The law requires that prisoners are fed with proper food, for the most part, if you aren't put to death, the prison system is meant for rehabilitation. We aren't monsters you know. But we will put someone to death for certain degrees of murder if they are deemed too dangerous to live. And that, if you are found guilty is you. Though, you might've gotten lucky this time, if all goes well, you'll be pardoned, and we won't have to execute you."

"I still don't understand why you're being given a chance. You should stand trial for your alleged crimes and whatever verdict you get should stand."

Obviously, the way he said 'alleged' kinda showed that he was required to say that due to this innocent until proven guilty law.

"Technically, I'm not supposed to consider you a criminal, until you're proven guilty, you're considered innocent. I guess even the most unlikable people need a fair trial."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,761]

@Lucid_Nightlight
"Hey! I'm many things, but murderer isn't one of them!" Flint stated, jumping up from the bed on her feet, she had already eaten, so she just tossed the dish to the side, for the first time her tone was completely serious, maybe even slightly hostile "Have I killed? yes, but most of them were either accidental or self-defense!" her hand movements indicated her agitation "The times I have killed someone for sake of killing them, none of which are inside your borders, they deserved it!" blue magic flared out of her eyes, which was worrying, not because she was doing anything yet, but because she was wearing a magic inhibitor on her horn, which was supposed to, you know, inhibit magic use, something that it very clearly wasn't doing. Flint pointed at Somnus "You can insult me as much as you want but don't you dare to assume my motives, bat." it seems he had hit a nerve. 

 

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 929]

@Catpone Cerberus

"I see, it is possible that there is a mix up with something outside these lands, if so, the evidence will show that. But don't think you can do anything to me."

Somnus picked up a spear, he had no plans to use it, Somnus just was making a point.

"I've been training for 1,480 years at least; do you honestly think you scare me?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,761]

@Lucid_Nightlight
If she wasn't stopped somehow, Flint would calmly walk close to Somnus, and depending on how he held the spear, either walk against the sharp end of the spear, or grab the spear to pull it against herself, regardless, she would end up with the spear a small push away from stabbing her, and in total 180 to her mood, a grin rose to her face "That's cute, but did you forget you already told me what you fear? Wanna see how quickly I can turn these barracks into a beautiful sea of flame? Feel the tickle as your fur burns off?" her eyes were still 'burning' with magic, but her tone had done a total turn and was now almost eerily nice and calm. 

If she was stopped, she would just say the same thing bit louder.