CHAPTER FIVE: Rise of Spike

Havoc flew through the Everfree near recklessly. He stayed hidden in the mist that gathered below the ominous canopy. It masked the steam that billowed off of his hot skin and his ghostly mane and tail. In the mist he was just another shadow. He leaped into a river and swam, he inhaled the water without thinking and was lucky to be capable of taking oxygen from it through his lungs as a fish did with gills. He passed a massive purple serpent that possessed a magnificent moustache.

The river serpent looked from him to the gleaming figures that hunted Havoc and nodded in understanding. The serpent took it upon himself to aid the dark fellow with the handsome mane and tail. He stirred up the upper layer of the river water to distort the other’s figure, then he rose his lengthy upper body from the water to engage the figures above in highly distracting conversation. He figured they were females so he pitched his voice to sound weak and effeminate. For some reason females often enjoyed spending time around effeminate men.

“Well hello ladies! May I say you are looking fabulous on this fine morning.” His voice barely qualified as unmanly. He struggled to keep his deep watery true voice from coming out. He almost sounded like he was crying to his own ears. This was what he was going for.

“Greetings river lord, have you seen a male alicorn recently?” A yellow female with white hair and dark blue tipped feathers asked. The serpent thought her voice was beautiful. It would be better if she sang though, perhaps he could convince her to.

“I might have. Can you describe this fellow?” The serpent asked in false joviality.

“He is black of fur and white of hair. His flight feathers are white at the tips and his wings have three fingers. His eyes are red like blood and the pupils are dragonesque. He has sharp teeth.”

“I believe he passed by recently, maybe ten minutes ago. He stopped and took a drink from my territory before crossing it deeper into the forest.”

“Thank you river lord.”

“If you want to thank me sing. A voice as gorgeous as yours is wasted on small talk.”

“I will pay you later, our task is too important to waste time singing.”

“Well in that case, tata ladies. See you later.” He said before diving back into his territories depths. He watched the gleaming figures as they followed his false directions, he would never be found out due to the difficulty involved in tracking a magical flying being through the Everfree.

The serpent turned in the direction the dark fellow had headed and effortlessly caught up. Those massive wings may be good flippers but no beast of land or sky could keep pace with a river serpent in its natural habitat. He examined the fellow, big for an equine but tiny for a dragon. He was actually larger than the serpents head to his joyous surprise.

“Hello traveler, the females have been mislead you can pause your flight and recuperate in my presence.” The serpent known as Xià said and his great voice traveled through the water in a melodious current to the ears of Havoc.

Havoc stopped like he’d been hit by an assault train before drifting with the current, bubbles rising from his boiling hot skin. Assault trains are trains converted for off-rail driving. They are designed with altered wheels and controls in the locomotive. The wheels retain their armored design and the locomotive has a massive dozer blade on its front to power through debris, small hills, and walls. Assault trains are among the most deadly weapons of Havoc’s homeworld being capable of transporting hundreds or thousands of soldiers and vehicles to a battle as well as being able to render most land-based defenses null through sheer power in addition to serving as mobile bases.

“Why do you help me river serpent?” Havoc asked the great purple being with a section of mustache that was extra curled and purple.

“I was given aid in my time of need long ago by a mare by the name of Rarity. Send her my regards if you ever see her. Besides dragons must stick together when threatened by the lesser breeds.”

“Funny, a dragon named Gloom told me I was a dragon as well. Yet those females and king Rex seem to think otherwise.”

“You are more of an inbetween than anything else young one.”

“Are we submerged?”

“Yes.”

“How am I breathing or speaking?”

“Dragon bloodline youth, we are amazing creatures as you can see.”

“My lungs also function as gills?”

“Basically yes.”

“Thanks for the help, know the way to Ponyville?”

“Follow the current until you see a fallen bridge, you should find a path leading to ponyville from the right.”

“Thank you comrade, what is your name?”

“I am Xiā.”

“Nice to meet you Xiā, I am Havoc.”

“Fair travels little brother.”

“Er, may your river flow strongly?”

Xiā swam upriver leaving Havoc confused as he drifted with the current. What he did not know was that Xiā felt mildly insulted and was attempting to laugh it off. ‘May your river flow strongly’ was a compliment to females but when applied to males it was an insult to their potency and at times a suggestion of taboo sexual deviancy. Xiā had never been insulted in such a manner and decided it was the ignorance of youth that caused him to make such a blunder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Time: 7:35 A.M. 11 days 7 hours 35 minutes since savior spell
Location: Ponyville outskirts
…

Havoc crept through the fading mist, he’d followed Xiā’s directions well. He saw the edges of Ponyville were almost in range. He had to be swift lest he be spotted. He charged in silence and got behind a building. He lowered himself once more and began creeping from alley to alley. He realised that his run was indeed silent and checked his tattered armor, it lacked the spikes he had designed in it. Some were obviously ripped out or lost with a chunk of armor in combat, the few that remained were not as they should be. They were near flat studs that served a similar purpose as the spikes, only without the deadliness. Havoc did not remember doing that.

He crept closer to his target: Twilight Sparkle’s tree library. With her information he would have an edge that he hoped didn’t count as help direct enough to disqualify him. Havoc flowed from space to space, he saw a scared child looking at him and narrowed the eye facing it as he moved on like a giant wolf. He rushed the tree library and knocked on the door carefully. He took an inspiring pose as he heard footsteps approaching from inside. Spike opened the door and gaped up at him in his battletorn armor in awe as the weak wind blew his hair to the side and Havoc looked down upon him sternly.

“Comrade Spike I am requisitioning the aid of you and comrade Sparkle for an important endeavor. May I come inside?” Havoc asked with his voice pitched to sound noble and strong.

“Give me a moment...” Spike said as he walked back into the library and closed the door. Havoc maintained his pose. He faintly heard arguing from inside the structure. Soon the door opened and Twilight Sparkle saw the same thing Spike did. She rubbed her eyes and shook her hair fully out of the way as her mouth opened wide and the corners turned down.

“Do the princesses know you’re here!?” She yelled.

“Nopony knows I’m here. And quiet down Twilight I cannot be seen and if you get me caught you are no longer my comrade.” He hissed.

“What are you doing here?!” She whispered.

“I am on an urgent mission granted to me by the father of Celestia. It is very secret which is why I must not be found.”

“You don’t have to answer to him, don’t you remember!?”

“If I don’t I’ll end up in chains.”

“Well what’s with the secrecy?”

“If I’m found I’ll be buried under a few hundred pounds of alicorn.”

“The princesses would do that?!”

“I’m talking about their mothers! Now may I please come in before they find me!?”

“Fine! Argh!” She whispered angrily before opening the door fully and moving aside. Havoc got on his knees and crawled with his head ducked in order to get in. When he got in he slammed the door closed with his tail and stood tall once more.

“Thank you comrades Sparkle and Spike. I need your indirect aid for the trials I have been appointed to prove my worthiness to Rex.”

“Didn’t the princesses already make you their Chosen Champion? That’s a lot of faith in my mind.”

“If I don’t I’ll be chained and my rights will be taken.”

“Why would that be done?!” Twilight yelled as she closed the blinds. Spike returned from locking the balcony and pulling the drapes closed.

“I am the sole unrelated male alicorn on the planet, this apparently makes me too valuable to let go to waste.”

“That sounds terrible.” She said, her voice tinged with regret.

“Well my reward is his four hundred undecided daughters as my herd. The difference between that and the prison is I can choose when I mate and I retain my rights as a sapient. Whatever that means... I know not if I can even choose when I mate in truth.”

“Wow...” Spike said, a thin line of drool leaking from his mouth.

“Well I have come to request your presence on my first task, I am to conquer seven nations by my own hoof. I am bringing you for your knowledge, I do not believe that would be direct enough to count against me. Spike is to guard you and possibly aid me in fighting not related to the conquest, before you get worried, he is a dragon. I know he can handle himself if he doesn’t even feel it when Rarity uses him as a living pincushion.”

“I... Don’t know what to say...” Twilight stuttered.

“I choose you and none else for this first task, do you accept comrades Sparkle and Spike? Mares, knowledge, adventure, and blood await us. Possibly stallions for you Sparkle, if that’s your speed.”

“I... Don’t like to talk about that sort of thing. What do you think Spike, I think this would be a good learning opportunity.” Twilight answered while looking at Spike.

“Hmmm, well I know we won’t find anybody as beautiful as Rarity but it would be nice to get some practice in. I’m with ya Twi’!” He responded after rubbing his scaly chin in thought.

“Well done comrades, show me your supplies before you pack them.”

They took twenty minutes to get their supplies ready. Havoc carefully scanned all the items they elected to bring, especially Spike’s gems. Twilight was very organized, this Havoc knew. What he didn’t know was that she was also a master of packing. Havoc prepared by making a riding saddle based on the gear of the royal guards and one of Twilight’s dresses. He formed a large cloak for himself, it covered much of his body while letting his wings out through holes in the hide he formed it of. The saddle was haired hide fused to metal underneath to give it shape. He designed it to hold six ponies sitting semi-erect in rows of two. Projecting from the four blunt corners were metal rods, they stuck upright. attached to them was a canvas of bare hide. This was to protect his riders from strong wind and harsh light. He felt something scraping him in his mane and pulled it, rather them, out. He saw shards of metal, odd shards. He scanned a dark blue one and found it to be dense, heavier than the pale shiny one but stronger too. He noticed some were not metal, a grey one flexed with ease. Twilight saw them and quickly put them under a microscope.

“Celestia! This one’s mithral! and that ones meteor metal! Where did you get these, these are highly refined and meteor metal is illegal for regular ponies. It’s also incredibly rare because the only way to get it is to wait for a meteor to fall out of the sky and hope it contains the rare metal.”

“I think somepony slipped them into my mane. I know I’m going to make some upgrades to my gear.” Havoc said and did just that. He dissolved the gold armor he wore and started fresh on the hide level. He formed a cuirass of the meteor metal for his chest, underneath it was fused to a layer of hide extended from the original layer of hide used for his scale. He gave the chest plate a thin layer diamond to protect it better, overlaying the diamond was what Twilight called flexsteel, it was strong and mostly rubber for flexibility. It also didn’t rust and was dark grey so it didn’t stand out. He formed his scale armor of meteor etal because he wasn’t concerned with weight, he made the scales for his spine extra large and coated them with diamond. He did not want to be disabled. The scales were connected to the layer of hide below through tiny mithral studs, the mithral was light and strong. The scales all had sharp edges so that if someone attacked from behind they would get sliced up. He formed two meteor metal cuisses for his hind legs, they attached to a pair of plates of meteor metal that were attached to his rear spine plating. The tassets were somewhat rigid due to not actually needing to move much while the cuisses attached to them were attached by swivel bolts to allow them to swing with every step while staying attached to the tasset plates. A pair of hide strips with scales attached hung down to cover much of his hind legs. His upper forelegs were covered by rerebraces, his lower by bracers of course. Between them was scale armor to protect joints. His hooves remained exposed as before.

His head was armored similarly to the way it was before. A single metal plate with holes for eyes, ears, and nostrils protected his upper head. This time there were two separate holes for his nostrils and it projected a little below his lips, it also had a slit for his mane. A jaw plate that was formed of two plates held together by a clamp, a layer of soft fur was fused to the inner side of the meteor metal. The jaw guard was attached to his helm by a pair of clamps. The hide on his neck too had sharp scales. He put a hooded cloak of flexsteel over his armor, leaving a patch for his cuirass. His cutie mark covered up and most of him was invisible under a layer of flexsteel he put on the saddle by its clips underneath his stomach and was good to go.

“I am ready comrades. Let me quickly form some armor for you two, it will be light.” Havoc offered.

“Alright.” Twilight accepted, staring in fascination at his armor.

Havoc enveloped her with his magic and sank it into her muscle layer to learn her strength and perfect the armor for her contours. He formed a cuirass of two plates that had a clamp on either side to protect her chest. He put a layer of soft woven hair underneath.The cloth covered most of her body leaving holes for her legs, neck, and tail. It covered her rear but there was a singular large hole for her hind legs, it slitted up to her tail and allowed her to slide into the cloth with ease. He attached scale like spine plates to the cuirass’s top plate by the first spine plate. Her hind legs were guarded by two piece cuisses that connected with clamps and similar greaves. Her hips were protected by tasset plates that were connected with tiny metal studs, the tops attached to the spine plates with three clamps on both sides. He protected her lower forelegs with bracers of similar design to her greaves and cuisses. Thin chains wrapped around her stomach, they were attached to the spine plates to keep them in place. The thin chains were held tight against her body by hooks that were attached to levers to manipulate the hooks to open and close, the hooks went through the end rings on the chains opposite the that lacked the hooks. Havoc had intentionally left her crotch unblocked so that she could go to the bathroom with customary ease.

Havoc formed a helm that had holes for her eyes, individual nostrils, ears, and horn. It covered just below her upper lip at her mouth and curved down further back to protect her lower jaw. It was held to her held with a pair of straps formed of Havoc’s bone white hair that attached to each other with a clip on the right one. Her metal was all mithral with a thin overlayer of platinum in case mithral corroded easily, though he doubted it did.

Spike stood tall and awaited his armor as Twilight examined herself in a mirror. Havoc enveloped him too. After examining him he decided to go with titanium overlayed with mithral and over that platinum, Spike was incredibly strong. It must have been all the heavy labor combined with dragon genetics. Havoc formed a suit of hide first, it covered his arms and chest as well as his stomach. He also formed pants of hide for him, leaving a hole for his tail. For both he left a slit in the back for his spines, they had thin strips going around them. The hide was to keep his scales and armor from wearing away at each other.

He formed the cuirass similarly to Twilight’s however his had straps on the chest plate that went around his arms, he did not have magic and he stood bipedally. Havoc put the clamps on the shoulders of the cuirass. Under the cuirass was a separate short sleeved shirt of hide, it trailed down to his knees and the sleeves reached his elbows. It was covered in scales that were attached using Havoc’s new favored method, it did not have scales where his cuirass went nor did it have them on his shoulders and outer forearms. To protect these areas Havoc placed pauldrons that attached to the cuirass with singular swivel clamps. The swivel clamps were in front of the cuirasses linking clamps. Havoc gave Spike bracers that attached on the front of the arm. Havoc placed on Spike’s shins greaves that were held in place by clamps on the inner side. The greaves had pointed projections that went past his knees, he could use these to lethally knee his opponents. His upper legs were protected by cuisses that were held together the same way as his geaves. The plates that protected limbs were connected to their opposing parts by lines of articulations opposite the clamps. Havoc finished spikes armor with his helmet.

It was like the rest of his armor except it had a gold lines patterning over the platinum. It protected his elongated upper jaw while leaving holes for his eyes, individual nostrils, ear fins, and a slit for his spines. It had an aventail that hung down his neck leaving the underside of his throat exposed, it draped over his pauldrons. This aventail was a combination of chain and scale. Hundreds of tiny rings wrapped around each other, some had scales extending from them and the scales covered the chainmail fully.

“Hm, I looked good before but now? This is just awesome. You’re pretty cool Havoc.” Spike said after examining himself in the mirror Twilight had abandoned.

“Thank you comrade. Now Twilight, would you like a raincoat of that ‘flexsteel’ you called it to cover your armor?”

“Yes thank you. I find this feeling strange. I walk around naked all the time, yet that opening you left that reveals my inner thighs and up to my tail feels revealing.”

Havoc formed the coat, it had sleeves down to her wrists on her forelegs but was a singular piece for her rear end. Its hood was designed with a hole for her horn. The coat hung halfway down her shins and was open on the underside, it covered her tail and made her feel less revealed.

“Much better.” She said.

“Alright, climb aboard.” Havoc said and lowered a wing as a sort of bridge. He had put a layer of flexsteel over the hide canopy. The two climbed on and put their supplies in a trunk built into the back end. They got into their seats and tried to get comfortable.

“Its soft but it needs more padding.” Twilight informed Havoc. He grabbed a bean bag nearby and scanned it. He began to form the soft cotton filled device on top of the seats. “That’s enough.” Twilight said at some point.

“You should know that those seats can now fold out into beds.” He had designed levers that when pulled back would slide out another section of seating, followed by the section they sat against going horizontal. Thus three piece beds. Havoc had even formed sheets of his hair and blankets of his furred hide in compartments beside the seats. He recently formed pillows within them them as well, on the outside his soft hair and on the inside a mix of hair and cotton. He wondered if he had some sort of fixation with himself to be using his own body for ingredients so often.

“How are we gonna get out?” Spike asked rationally.

“Twilight will teleport us out.”

“But all this stuff might get burned!” She protested as she fondly hugged a pillow.

“I’ll shield us.” Havoc said as he smiled back at them.

“Alright, but if the stuff gets ruined you better make more.”

“Of course.” Havoc said as he wreathed them in darkness.

Twilight’s horn glowed brightly and they appeared outside the library with a soft pop and a flash of light. Most of the locals were still asleep, it hadn’t taken Havoc long to create all the things he had. He leapt into the air and flew through sky, keeping low lest he alert his pursuers.

“Where to Twilight?” He hissed loudly, “Where is the nearest nation?”

“If you go East we should be headed to Caltimare, it’s inhabited by ponies and zebra that are ruled by an old dragon. I read that alicorns serve as his nobility, run businesses and mostly do other economy related things. A few serve in his military and form the high ranking command structure.” She suggested.

“What’s Caltimare like?”

“Mostly desert, there’s a big river running through it and a number of oaseses dot the sands however. The city of Sandislan is built along the river, it barely covers a tenth of it despite the cities size. Sandislan is also the only city, there are small villages and nomadic tribes throughout however. I believe there are also a few earth drakes.”

“Thank you,” Havoc said as he turned East based on the sun, “Spike I have a message for Rarity comrade, will you write it and send it for me?”

“Sure.” He said quickly and whipped out a quill and a standard sized scroll. He started with ‘Dear lady Rarity’, “Ready!”

“Dear lady Rarity, I Havoc send you this letter on behalf of a being who helped me in my time of need. Remember that river serpent from the Nightmare Moon quest? Well that’s who it was, he wished for me to send you his regards if I ever came into contact with you. I will not be in Equestria for a long time so I thought it prudent to do so early on. Sincerely Havoc. P.S. The reason I won’t be in Equestria is that I’m being hunted down by eighteen alicorns with intent to rape.” He dictated. Spike broke into laughter at the last part. He soon stopped laughing and held the note high before burning it with his magic fire as Havoc flew higher.

“You know that that last part will panic her and she’ll gossip about it after she calls the princess right? I’ll be sending her one informing her that I was suddenly called away for an epic quest and I didn’t have time to say goodbye in person.” Spike said and he smiled, Havoc of course could not see or feel the smile.

Havoc flew onwards and Eastwards.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Time: 8:48 A.M. 11 days 8 hours 48 minutes since savior spell
Location: somewhere in the great Calimare desert
…

“Need a refill for your water bottles comrades?” Havoc yelled over the loud wind.

“Yes!” Yelled Twilight.

She passed it into Havoc’s vision and he filled it with cold water with a light glow of his horn. She brought it back and took a sip before returning to her lecture.

“And as such that is why unicorn horns are so springy. Ready to hear about pegasi or earth ponies?!”

“I’ll need a moment to fully absorb all that!” Havoc replied For the past twenty minutes she had been explaining to him why unicorn horns worked the way they did. Havoc had learned to his surprise that unicorn horns didn’t actually have any bone in them. They had a core of veins, nerves, and two kinds of magical organ. One was called the the magica amplio cogoclaro, it was what caused the horn’s glow when magic was used. This singular organ was surrounding the others but was perforated with veins. It served to focus the unicorns magic. The other was the magica ingenero. It literally created magic using energy generated by consumption of food, they were scattered throughout a unicorns chest and stomach as well as within the horn. Around the magica amplio cogoclaro was a layer of cartilage which was the foundation the keratin outer layer was anchored to. These made a unicorn capable of generating and manipulating magic and it explained the odd properties of unicorn horns. Horns typically matched a unicorns fur color due to the fur color in unicorns being influenced by the magic produced by the magica ingenero as well as genetic pigmentation.

“Hey, how near do you think we are to Sandislan?” Spike asked, he was bored. After all, he’d heard this all before.

“Can’t say, maybe we should ask those zebra over there!” Twilight yelled and pointed to a group of zebra in white cloaks. With them were a few camels wearing turbans.

“Are camels sapient?” Havoc asked.

“Actually no! It’s kind of strange honestly, they look like they should be! They are clever for lesser animals however!” Twilight supplied.

Havoc angled himself towards them and they pointed and yelled in a language he did not recognize. Twilight did however, when they came close enough to hear each other she started yelling at them in their own language. They began going back and forth in such a manner until Havoc landed among them, he flared his wings to the sides for a moment before furling them. The sun’s light glared off of his flexsteel cloak and he squinted against the close glare of the sand. The zebras surrounded him, poking at his legs and chattering excitedly. Twilight and a zebra kept speaking, no longer yelling. The zebra’s voice sounded harsh to Havoc’s ears, harsh for this place at least.

“If we go that way we should hit the river, follow its current and we’ll reach the city.” Twilight eventually said. A foal was attempting to climb Havoc’s left rear leg. Havoc raised it to provide a better surface, he was leaving soon anyway. The adults laughed at this. The foal climbed his leg and got into the howdah on his back, it saw Spike. The young zebra pulled his hood down and stared, at least Havoc thought it was a he. Spike said something to him in his own language and Havoc began to wonder if everyone but himself knew the language. More likely he picked it up from Twilight however.

They conversed for a bit as Havoc lowered his leg. Others patted him but did not attempt to boldly climb him as the colt had. Havoc extended his wings and flapped gently, both to cool off and to get ready for flight. The zebras gathered in the passage of the gusts he created. Havoc closed his eyes and relaxed as he flapped lazily. After a short time he felt a hoof tapping his armored thigh and raised his leg to allow the foal to climb down. After the foal was safely on the ground Havoc opened his eyes and leapt straight up before flapping his wings and propelling himself in the direction Twilight indicated.

He was soon cooling down as he flew, the air resistance pushing wind against him which took away his built up heat. He was silent, to him it was relaxing and not at all awkward. He vaguely heard Twilight speaking with Spike. He looked for any sign of water, knowing this world it would be blue. His homeworld didn’t have blue water, not that he’d seen. The oceans were brown, red, green and in places slick and rainbow hued or black. He’d learned long ago that rainbows were always bad on his homeworld. Part of the reason he was starting to dislike Rainbow Dash was due to his previously logical and justified phobia of rainbows. It had saved his life numerous times after all.

As he crossed the sand he noticed a bit of blue was moving closer. He hoped it was water. His hope was misplaced. A mostly blue thing was flying right at him. It had deep blue fur yet its wings had red, orange, and yellow feathers. They went in order of darkest to lightest outwards, he saw a few dark blue feathers scattered on its wings. It seemed to have scales on and beside its spine, the scales were also on its shoulders and beside its mane ending in a head crest of green and red feathers alongside the dark purple mane. Its wings appeared to trail fire behind them and its eyes were solid yellow aside from the predatory silt pupils. The creatures eyes were surrounded by light purple. Havoc saw it had taloned hands rather than forehooves and they bent like those of a wolf or simian, or potentially more accurately a bird. The hands were the same blue as the main body and the claws were currently hidden in fur. It had rear legs of different form, they ended in larger scaled feet. The feet had strong looking toes that ended in black claws.

The thing pulled up shortly before impacting Havoc and swooped back down by his side. It was clearly smaller and had a sleek shape, Havoc judged it to be a little less than half his size overall. It almost certainly weighed less than him. In fact it looked downright feminine. Its equine head was level with Havoc’s when it spoke.

“Well hello stranger! Haven’t seen your kinds males before! Not bad if you don’t mind me saying so.” A melodious female voice practically sang out.

“A second phase phoenician!” Twilight said in wonder.

“Well someponies well learned!” The female sounding creature said with a laugh.

“What’s a second phase phoenician? What’s a first phase phoenician, or phoenician in general for that matter?” Havoc asked, he felt strange. Warm, and the phoenician smelled wonderful. He could probably get its head with one lunge of his jaws at this range.

“Phoenicians resulted from the magical hybridization of phoenix and pony long ago in the region of Phoenicia though some prefer Canine. The phoenicians were there before the Caninites however. The phoenicians that resulted from the magical fusion of pony and phoenix were only the first phase, for a long time they were simply phoenicians as there was no second phase for nearly two and a half thousand years. Most of them were pegasus hybrids though there were a few earth ponies among them. They formed a very successful thalassocracy within the first hundred years and there were no land living beings that could compare for a very long time. They created the now defunct but historically important bireme! Then a few mated with young and lesser dragons and second phase phoenicians were born. They didn’t look as equine as the first phase and they were stronger, faster, and larger than them as well. They also developed a taste for meat. The difference between second and third phase phoenicians lies in the diet and, to a lesser degree, appearance. Third phase can eat gems and metal, they are also scalier and typically a little bigger than the second phase.” Twilight explained excitedly. She sure knew a lot about stuff.

“You forgot to mention all phoenicians can breathe fire as well as being immune to it. Well you didn’t mention other things too, but I don’t mind cutie! Where did you learn all that stuff? Surely you were doing it late at night when suitors weren’t hounding you. By the way, my name’s Pyropsyche.” The phoenician said with a wink towards her.

“I learned about it in the royal library. And I wasn’t hounded by suitors... I was kind of a loner back then. What makes you think that I was hounded by suitors?” Twilight asked. She had removed her raincoat mere minutes into the trip.

“Purple is very attractive to Phoenicians. If you were born in Phoenicia your parents would have to lock you away in a magical tower to keep all your admirers away.” Pyropsyche replied.

“Eh, hehehe...” Twilight said as she rubbed the back of her head.

“Even just my hair has me getting compliments left and right. Why do you think I’m wearing purple eyeshadow? You are all purple... You look nice aside from the purple but it really adds on to your good looks.” She had been getting steadily closer and was in fact half in the howdah. Spike looked at her carefully.

“I see your dragon friend is purple also. Not like you, but still! You two would fetch great prices if I could bring myself to capture you like that. Also it would help if I was willing to share you little mare...” She was close enough to grab Twilight.

“I’m sorry but I’m spoken for!” Twilight blurted out.

“By who?” Pyropsyche asked calmly.

“Celestia! Princess Celestia of Equestria!” Twilight said, she wasn’t supposed to just let people know!

“Well she’s miles and miles away. No harm in a little fun is there? Besides I know what she does with those guards of hers.” Pyropsyche said as she got even closer to Twilight.

“Uh, uh, also him!” She said pointing at the most formidable being in the area. Which was Havoc.

“Well that’s a surprise. Still I don’t think he’d mind.” She said as she began running her fingers through Twilight’s mane.

“Yes he would. He would get really really angry at you if you tried that. He conquers nations by himself, you really don’t want to see him mad.” She said nervously. The female continued to stroke her mane.

“Mmm, oh well. I guess the big bad stallion doesn’t like sharing. I’ll make due, where ya headed?”

“We’re going to Sandislan, urgent business. What are you doing out here phoenician? I hear your kind tends to stick to coastal areas.”

“That’s a matter of preference and business and there’s a huge river coming up. I think you’ll agree it counts when we see it in two... one.” They all looked ahead when she did that. The river was indeed huge as promised. They saw a small fleet downstream, the current was quite noticeable along the nearby edge of the massive body of water. Trees and odd, twisted, bushes grew along its banks. They saw green plants in the beautiful clear water near the banks, it was deep enough that the inner side was deep blue and impenetrable to normal eyes from above the surface.

Havoc angled towards the fleet ahead, small birds temporarily flocked to him in curiosity. Then larger birds such as pale storks and golden cranes. A few took perch on the howdah he bore on his back. He saw odd beings as well as a few more phase two phoenicians . They were colorful but not as much as the ponies of Equestria. They were tall and winged. Their wingspans were far greater than those of normal ponies, comparable to those of regular birds. More likely phoenixes, Havoc saw one shoot fire out of his nostrils. Havoc noticed they tended towards extremes, bright and dark. Black, blue, white, red, yellow, orange, and occasionally bronze or light to dark grey. Havoc only saw one with green fur and another with a dark green mane. A few armored individuals flew up to meet him, they did not look very concerned however. It was in flight that they were most obviously not ponies, their slowly flapping wings were aflame. One male nudged one of the three females in the platoon that had flown up to greet Havoc.

They surrounded him and ceased their lazy flaps and began to glide leaving trails of flame in their wake. One flew into the howdah Havoc carried, he was a good deal smaller than Pyropsyche. In fact he was only a little over a decimeter taller than the average stallion and was far leaner, yet he was still clearly male.

“Hey there Pyro! Who’s this lovely lady?” He said in a smooth masculine voice, it too possessed an odd melodic quality.

“Don’t even try it Heart, she’s taken.” Pyropsyche said quickly.

“Well aren’t you lucky.”

“Actually he’s lucky.” She replied pointing down to Havoc.

“Huh...”, He looked flabbergasted and Pyropsyche grinned, “How does that even work?”

“Magic! There’s a spell involved.” Twilight answered before they could figure it out on their own.

“That figures. The alicorns get all the best stuff anyways, so why not mates too...” He said looking at Twilight longingly.

“Hey aren’t you offended Pyro? He just said she was better than you.” Spike jabbed.

“Not at all. I myself went after her and phoenicians aren’t really given to jealousy. Not usually. Besides, it’s not like something like that offends us. We know good stuff when we see it and your friend here is very high quality. I bet under that armor you’re not so bad yourself.”

“I like to think so.” Spike said just before Havoc landed on the ships visible deck with a loud thump.

Havoc looked around carefully. They didn’t look very threatening to him with their solid yellow eyes. Havoc noticed a particularly large phoenician approaching him. This ones had black slit pupils surrounded by red which faded through orange to yellow. Its head was fully scaled, its ears even had scales, except where it was feathered. The only part Havoc saw that wasn’t scaly or feathered was its underside. It’s feathers were a dark purple and its scales were red, its fur was yellow. Its mane was a dark shade of purple that matched that of its wings and was oddly shiny, like it had been treated with oil.

“Who are you?” He asked and Havoc saw sharp incisors and canines.

“I am...Bellator, the greatest warrior you will ever know.”

“Really? Then why have I not heard of you then? Surely I would have heard of, or at least read about your exploits somewhere in my travels.” He said and narrowed his eyes.

“I don’t make my work a public affair, nor do I leave witnesses to tell anyone about me.” Havoc replied coldly and narrowed his eyes in turn.

“Then why should I trust you assasin?” He said and brought his head closer as the corners of his mouth turned down.

“What gender are you anyways? I can’t tell just by looking at you.” Havoc said while angling his head further down and keeping his eyes pointed at him. He had been both insulting him and seriously asking him. Havoc had been mistaken before.

“I am Causkardia, veteran Syntagmatarchis of Tyre! I am the stallion assigned to protect this trade fleet and you’d best show me respect!” He said glaring up at Havoc.

“Careful with that one Caus, the purple mare says he conquered nations by himself.” Pyropsyche interrupted before they bumped heads.

“How have I not heard of him then?!” Causkardia yelled angrily.

“‘Cause I worked too fast for word to spread or records to show! Tell him dragon!” Havoc yelled angrily.

“How’m I supposed to do that?!” Spike yelled in annoyance.

“Send the princess a letter or something, I’ll make more scrolls!” Havoc answered loudly.

“Aaagh! Fine.” Spike said and whipped out a scroll. He quickly wrote “Dear princess Celestia, This is Spike asking you to send confirmation that your buddy Havoc conquered two nations. He’s in an argument with a phoenician syntagmatarchis and they might start fighting if I don’t get them something that says he did or didn’t do as Twilight said. With thanks, Spike. P.S. If you mention me in your return letter please refer to me as Inferno. And Havoc as Bellator. P.P.S. I don’t know Twilight’s code name.” and burned it with green flame.

“What princess do you work for huh, or is that a lie?” The third phase phoenician angrily asked.

“Lets wait and find out!” Havoc yelled and his eyes began to glow. What he didn’t know was that his eyes glowed when he was feeling emotion strongly. He also didn’t know Celestia was taking a soak at the time and the scroll got waterlogged despite landing on a bath mare.

After a few tense minutes Spike belched up a message. He read it and his face got a little pink. Of course nobody saw it under his helmet.

“Uhh, yeah Celestia says he did what he said.” He said quickly.

“Let me see that, I know the royal seal and if you don’t show me Bellator here’s a liar!” Causkardia demanded.

“You don’t wanna read this dude.” Spike disputed.

“Whatever it is I’m sure is fine! Besides I’m a grown stallion, I can handle a little profanity!” Causkardia disagreed.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you...” Spike warned as he threw it to Causkardia, who caught it in a foreclaw.

He examined the seal carefully before nodding and reading the message. He blinked repeatedly after reading it before rubbing his eyes with a hand and rereading it multiple times. He carefully rolled it up and handed it to a nearby phoenician, Havoc noted mentally that this first phase had hands unlike the other first phase he’d seen. He wondered if it had anything to do with his heritage.

“You sir have my apology. Also my envy. I was unaware of your relationship with the high princess of Equestria.”

“Co-high princess.”

“What?”

“She and her sister are back together.”

“I... Did not know that she had returned. Why does the sun still rise?”

“Because she’s Luna again, the Elements of Harmony purified her or something. Hey what happened with that anyway?” Havoc said somewhat smugly.

“The Elements of Harmony banished Nightmare Moon from her body and weakened it considerably. It also made her body younger.” Twilight answered.

“Cool, so Nightmare Moon was like... Mind Fungus?” Havoc asked.

“What’s mind fungus?” She returned curiously.

“Mind Fungus is a microorganism that gets in through your blood. Generally from wet places heavy in other species of fungi, it feeds on them or something. Anyways, when it eventually reaches your brain it starts to feed on the cells while mimicking their makeup. The only thing you feel is a searing headache so many victims never get the chance to turn themselves in. The final stage results in a short term coma, maybe five to six days. Eventually the victim wakes up fully under control of the fungus, it has fully replaced the brain by then. With a few extra’s such as larger size and greater resilience. It develops breeding vents and starts to release spores which travel into the stomach and get out through the feces and through that spreads to other life forms far from the wet environment the original victim caught it from.”

“Why does such a thing exist?! How do you get rid of it?! And why would they turn themselves in.” Causkardia asked in revulsion.

“We don’t know why it exists. And they turn themselves in because the only way to get rid of it is to kill the host and crack open their head, followed by a full immolation. You really only have to immolate them, but it’s a kindness to kill them first and cracking open the head makes it easier for the fire to reach it.”

“Is there no alternative?” Twilight asked, her voice sounded weak. Almost like she was ttrying not to puke.

“Well you might be able to remove it along with a chunk of brain. And if you have the cash and resources, even grow the lost stuff back. But then again most can’t afford that and nobody with the money has ever caught Brain Fungus unwillingly.”

“People contract it willingly?! By Celestia why!?” She asked in a freaked out voice.

“Like I said, your brain gets bigger. Bigger means smarter, and you’re still you. It emulates the brain it consumes so in a way it becomes what it eats, the main downside is for the government really. When it spreads they form a sort of hive mind and keep trying to further spread the fungus and overthrow the government... Honestly the rich who get it just have to burn their feces or drop it in acid and they’re allowed to live. I met someone who had willingly contracted Brain Fungus, not a bad fellow. He was a Primus Pilus, and a good one.”

“Primus Pilus? That sounds Lupine.” Causkardia commented.

“Lupine?” Havoc responded.

“Er, Lupusland is a far off country, it declared war on Equestria months ago. It’s a nation of sapient wolves, they have a quarrel with earth hounds for religious reasons. Their language has many parallels to yours and Equestria’s.” Twilight answered matter-of-factly.

“Hey what is your name anyway? You sound like a scholar.” Causkardia inquired.

“I’m... Midnight Star. I am in fact a scholar and own my own library. I graduated with top honors from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns and have anytime access to the Royal Library.”

“Why is a scholar all the way out here? And why do you travel with the second colonel of the Royal Guard?” He followed.

“Er, important business. He’s got something to do in Sandislan.” She said and looked down sadly.

“Why so sad little mare? Your pretty face should not be so downcast.” Causkardia said in an effort to cheer her up.

“She’s taken Caus! Hey Heart. I want you to spread the word that the big one, his name’s Bellator, already claimed Midnight Star here. That should stop them from blatantly hitting on her. Oh yeah! Tell them that he really doesn’t like it when people go after his...?”

“Girlfriend. We aren’t very serious but he’s very protective, and a little possessive. Part of the reason I was chosen to accompany him.”

“Right... Well you heard the mare.”

“Got it, my name’s Heartstealer by the way. Look me up if things ever go sour between you two. I’ll be stationed with this trade fleet unless things go badly with Sandislan.” He said with a wink and hopped off. His purple armor gleamed in the light.

Havoc examined the soldiers as they landed around him, mostly ignoring the few who patrolled the deck in a bored fashion. Their armor resembled that of the standard royal guard pegasus altered to fit their proportions, however it was purple and it was designed to let their hair stick through a slot in the helmet. In addition the symbol over the front of the breastplate was a dual barbed green arrowhead surrounded by a red vertically tall rectangle. They also wore scale armor, it appeared to be steel and was undyed. The scales made him think of fish. The scale covered much of what the plate did not, down to the lower knee in fact. This made them flexible but still well protected. Havoc also noticed that this group mostly had hands as opposed to forehooves, looking across the deck he saw that nearly every phoenician he saw had hands. So why did a few have hooves?

“Why do some of you have hooves while most have hands?” He asked a nearby soldier mare.

“Oh well that’s because of earth pony blood. See earth ponies have always been good with crops while pegasi are good with clouds and unicorns can do magic. Pegasus ponies are also typically bigger, stronger, and naturally better fighters than earth ponies. This is why so many are soldiers while a lot of earth ponies are farmers, it’s what they’re good at genetically. A side effect of the magical combination of earth ponies and phoenixes was that unlike the pegasi they retained their hooves. This made them less suited for combat but had little effect on their prowess as farmers, we don’t know why they still have hooves but they do.” She answered with a big white toothed smile. Unlike the phase twos and threes they had admittedly sharper looking pony teeth. They ended in points but somehow didn’t look like predator teeth.

“Hey can I count on you and Pyropsyche to watch Midnight for me? Keep her safe will you, the dragon can protect himself and should stick to her anyway.” He implored.

“Sure thing mister alicorn, it will be my pleasure!” She responded enthusiastically.

“No worries second colonel, this is the safest ship in the fleet. Where are you going anyway?” Causkardia asked.

“Smart pony, I’m heading to Sandislan now. It’s rather important that I get there as soon as possible, I’m taking off this transportation unit by the way.” Havoc said with a large sharp toothed grin.

“Need any help with that?” He asked politely.

“No, once those two get out this will be a slice of liver.”

“Ah! A fellow carnivore.”

Twilight, Spike, and finally Pyropsyche exited the howdah on Havoc’s wing. Once they were all off he took the clips in his magic and opened them before lifting the object from his back and placing it on the deck. He stretched a bit before raising his wings and pulling off the flexsteel cloak and placing it in the trunk of the howdah. This got him a number of looks from the phoenicians, who gawked at his shining armor. He kept grinning as he leapt up and flew following the current. As he flew he saw that the metal hulled phoenician ships possessed sails but moved far faster than the wind would push them, despite their impressive size. He looked into the water and saw what appeared to be opposing currents, he took a quick dive and saw empty tubes attached underneath and to the sides of the ships, these must be pushing them. He’d seen similar means of propulsion on airships before so was not surprised, these were magical horse things that spoke. He leapt from the water and resumed his flight.

He flew for a time in silence interrupted by the occasional manly giggle brought on by the joy of flight under his own power. The wind caressing his wings, the light bouncing off the river, the smell of water, all these things sent signals to his brain that said happy. He saw the city all too soon in his flight induced joy haze. It wrapped around both sides of the river and Havoc saw ships moving up, down, and across its visible length. Few of them were as advanced as the phoenician ships, he saw trails of steam left in their wake as they powered across the river. They had complicated looking mechanisms visible on their decks, large things. They had glass tubes and domes, metal rods, and metallic wires running between or around them visible on their tops while colorful buttons and flashing bulbs were evident on one of their sides.

Havoc saw that most of them wore goggles similar to the goggles of the Wonderbolts. Actually it was much closer to the engineers or aviators goggles from home. While the lense was a shiny blue as opposed to black, they had thicker rims than those of the wonderbolts and the band that held them was brown and spread to surround the lenses and covered down to the snout and midway down the cheeks and halfway up the side and fore of the head. Havoc saw zebras and unicorns alike at work on them, occasionally he’d see earth ponies. He also saw pegasi working above and high up the sides. While the number of zebra and unicorns working on the generators, or perhaps they prefered engines, was close it was still in the zebras favor numerically. In fact he saw most of the crews were zebra, he decided that this was probably due to zebras being here first and thus having greater numbers. He also suspected that zebras were adapted to the heat.

Looking closely at one carrying a large wrench on his shoulder Havoc noted the way his limbs bent. Equines did not bend like that where he was from. He did not know that here, equine wrists were not the only flexing part of the arm. What appeared to bend like regular equine lower forelegs was actually a highly evolved series of cartilage supported internally by struts of bone. Like bird bones only they were not hollow. This adaptation allowed them to bend their forelegs almost like an octopus bends its tentacles while still allowing them to stiffen and run with well known equine speed. The dense muscles supported this while not causing them to sink unduly due to the low weight of the “bones”. While examining them Havoc felt compelled to look at his own forelegs. Since he was often saved by compulsion he raised them and pointed his head down. He suddenly realized something rather hilariously. Egads! It appears that my forelegs bend like those of a man! This is literally what he thought. Upon realizing this he began laughing furiously while glancing frequently at the source of his amusement, this resulted in ever louder laughter which in turn disturbed the crewbeings below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In his language his name was spear. The zebra did not mind his name, he liked it in fact. He didn’t like the way foreign ponies looked at him when he answered in the event that they asked what it meant however. He suspected their history had something to do with it, he’d heard from a few travellers who’d been to Equestria that they were rather peaceful, despite their casual brutality. By this they meant Equestrians throw you or harshly shove you aside when they can, he had literally be punched off the boat he worked on when a stallion overreacted in defense of his mate after being informed of his name’s meaning. How such an apparently peaceful group can go about throwing, punching, slamming, and trampling others is a mystery to him. He wondered how they were still alive if, according to what the travellers said, throughout their history really bad things happened when they stopped being nice. When he lay alone in his bunk he pondered that, beings from savage countries you expected it from. Nords you expected it from, dogs you expected it from, dragons in general you expect it from, Coldrassians you expect it from. The land of colorful ponies who nearly went extinct when their arguing and dislike towards each other drew the dreaded windigoes? Not so much.

He heard something as he walked along the captain's cabin, a faint laughing. He looked around and saw nobody laughing. The tired unicorn he passed didn’t even react. Spear rubbed his goggles with a handkerchief and kept walking. He made it to the deck and began examining the polished grey floor for dents before moving on to the opening near the front of the ship where crew quarters could be accessed. He heard the laughter again, louder. He waited for it to subside, it didn’t. He looked around but nobody was currently laughing. He then caught it in an ear and carefully turned his head to the source. He noticed the others following his gaze. What he saw made him wonder if he had accidentally eaten the very expensive frostbred mushrooms he had bought from a vendor in the previous city the ship had visited. He sure hoped not, he was saving those for a very special mare. A gift to show how much he liked her, hopefully she would be overjoyed and accept his advances...

The thing in question was an armored alicorn looking at his hooves and laughing like a mad thing. He took out his handkerchief and thoroughly wiped his lenses and tapped at the metal studs securing the strong lenses to the synthetic leather band that wrapped around his head and somehow didn’t interrupt his mane. He still saw it. Possibly him, possibly a very large him. He didn’t even know male alicorns existed! He quickly looked around to see if he had gone crazy. Nope, he just saw most of the others staring at it with hidden eyes while a few frantically looked about as he was. He rushed to the captain’s cabin, he sure as overbucked hay didn’t know what else to do in this situation. He pulled the door open and stepped inside before whirling around and closing the door and spinning to face the captain. Who was currently face down on his desk quietly snoozing. No time for that. He galloped over and shook him vigorously before holding his head up to reveal panicked, and slightly bloodshot, eyes wide open.

“Sir! An armored male alicorn is laughing insanely while flying high above the ship and looking at his hooves sir! What do we do?!” Spear said in his heavy accent.

“What?” The tired zebra in the blue and gold striped captain coat asked. His short black beard was slightly moist.

“I said an armored male alicorn is laughing insanely while flying high above the ship and looking at his hooves sir! Also he is very big and his armor is very shiny,what do we do sir?!” The panicking crew zebra yelled at the captain whose right eye began to twitch.

“Are you high or am I having a nightmare?” The tired zebra asked.

“Argh, follow me sir...” Spear says before grabbing a leg and slowly pulling him. The captain relents and allows himself to be pulled. They walk out and the alicorn is still laughing. A terrifying howl by now and everybody is just staring like idiots. Even the military ships on patrol are just watching.

The captain punches himself in the face with his free right foreleg. He looks up and the laughter continues. He looks up and becomes intensly focused before getting a calm resigned look.

“Sailor?”

“Sir?”

“I have no f****** clue what by Celestia’s sweet sweet p**** we are supposed to do. However I recommend we get the f*** out of here before some s*** goes down. Alert the m************ crew below of my orders. Hey you lazy b****, sons of wenches drunk on beer and c*******! Get us the f****** pandemonium spawn out of the s********!!” The captain roared.

The dazed crew ran around in a panic momentarily before the order registered.

“D********...” The captain muttered as he returned to his comforting cabin to get drunk. Drunk on a mix of hard earth hound beer, ursan vodka, elk grog, and dragon beer. He rarely drank dragon beer because a bottle of that stuff will kill you. Just one bottle. He decided he would risk half a bottle as he heard electricity from high above.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While it was funny he decided that it was time to start playing. Havoc started with a little lightning, lines and arcs appearing from his horn as it began crackling on his highly conductive armor. He was surprised at how conductive flexsteel was. Havoc grinned as he built up a charge, the electricity didn’t even burn. Probably some freaky dracocorn trait, yeah that sounded good. Dracocorn, just sounded right in his mind. He had been smelling it since he started but now the scent almost overwhelmed him as he prepared his explosion. Three. Two. One. Zzzzaaaappppp!!!! Electricity exploded in a thick ring around him, screams as airborne being fell twitching and burning into the river below or streets to the side. He flew to his left and started zapping at random, mostly hitting sand and stone. He resumed his laughing, his bolts hurt quite a bit evidently.

A stream of bullets went just by him and he turned to see a large draconian creature, armored in bronze and armed with a large rapid firing gun. He avoided the bullets by launching himself forward at random until he got close enough to attack in his preferred method. He lunged forwards and slammed his hooves into the drake, to his surprise his hooves penetrated with little difficulty. The earth drake was very big however, taller than him at the shoulder. He could take a lot of damage and so dropped the gun and raked him with his claws, which scraped harmlessly against his armor. The flexsteel was rent but the material beneath was fine, apparently earth drake claws can’t pierce diamond. The drakes eyes widened as he began to cough from blood leaking into his lungs, Havoc kicked off and wrenched his hooves from the drakes body. He readied his mind and fried the unfortunate creature with lightning.

Next on the menu of death was a team of zebra armed with rifles, assault rifles from the size of the clips hanging from them. Indeed they were he found out as they began shooting at him. The seven of them soon found that their guns didn’t work on opponents with meteor metal armor. Havoc killed them, despite the iron under the robes signifying their employment in law enforcement, with a wave of fire. They screamed and rolled before Havoc crushed them with a wall of pressure. Now they were flattened, gooey corpses on fire. Havoc licked at one appreciatively, not bad seared and squashed with a hint of sand. He smiled and continued on his way, he launched himself high and looked around, no dragon yet. Maybe he had to do more damage? He decided to first make himself more obvious with a massive cone of fire blasted into the sky. Maybe he’d be taken for a dragon and get some-

“RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRoooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!” That sounded big, really really big. Havoc smiled as he saw a grey shape approaching through a storm cloud. It ripped through effortlessly and began trailing vapor awesomely. It pumped massive wings as it flew to him, they looked... Proportionate. In fact all the dragons had wings like that he realised. Spike had small ones but he was still growing. Ah Spike, he had grown from the weak if tough scaled wimp he’d first seen in episode one. He had grown indeed, he was bigger overall than Twilight. Not quite the size of an adult stallion but very close. He was more streamlined and looked more vicious overall, almost enough to qualify as lethal. Almost, he wasn’t big enough. Nor were his spines sharp enough or his proportions just right, but he was close. He was a lean, mean, fighting machine all the same which was why Havoc decided he should come along. Havoc theorised that dragons and ponies grew at roughly the same rate. Not to say that in seven or so years a dragon would be a near invulnerable firebreather who could swallow a bear with ease. Rather that given a dragon who hatched at the same time a pony was born that if you compared them in four to five years they would be roughly the same size as long as they were both average specimens. He did not know that ponies reached full size around their twentieth year reaching sexual maturity three years prior, nor did he know the legal age of consent in Equestria was nineteen years of age. Ponies here age slowly, a careful pony might live two to three hundred years. But that was the max, and dragons just kept getting bigger. If it was the right variety a dragon would never actually stop growing as it aged, those types were also pretty much immortal since they never got sick or suffered from the debilitations of old age.

The massive grey roared as he saw his challenger, Havoc hoped this counted as an Elder. Chances were it didn’t. Havoc inhaled deeply and roared in turn. The dragon was on him in seconds, Havoc charged at it, intending to shatter its scales with his hooves. His hooves cracked the tough scales and he was launched backwards with bone-jarring force. He span uncontrollably and struggled to keep his bile down, he flapped his wings violently in an effort to regain control. The dragon hissed at him from above as it dove at him, its mouth open wide-ide-ide! Havoc managed to launch himself up as the jaws closed and he fit rather snugly. he gored the tongue with his horn and kicked harshly at the roof of its mouth. It roared and he kicked a tooth out as he was launched free. Havoc said to himself f*** it and grabbed himself in his TK in a desperate bid for control. He stopped immediately and his stomach thanked him. He soon threw himself up as the dragon lunged at him once more, this time it turned its head and released red fire at him. It hurt, it hurt a lot. Not as much as if he didn’t wear meteor metal however, the stuff is nearly immune to heat. It has to be to survive the trip down through Equestria’s dense atmosphere from space.

All the same, Havoc raged in his pain. He had learned from a very young age that rage was the appropriate reaction to pain. He had seen those that cowered beaten to death by opportunistic or sadistic opponents and he did not want to die. Well actually, at the time he did not want to die, he was only five at the time. As he grew older he became more hateful and began to stop caring. He just didn’t care if he lived or died anymore, kept alive by what was left of his instinctive drive to survive and the ministrations of the Al’ hira surgeons. Now rage fueled an attack on a massive dragon, probably average for its species. Incredible force laced with lightning was projected at the dragon as it charged him.

“RRRRaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!” It roared in pain as its chest scales shattered and it was electrocuted through the cracks in its armor.

“RRooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr!!!” Havoc roared as he launched himself in a murderous rage at his multiton aggressor. His horn impaled its face just below it left eye and Havoc strained as he tore it downwards then upwards to free it. It tore free in a spray of blood, he had clearly penetrated to its tough hide and beyond. He kicked off and more scales cracked from the force. The dragon smiled menacingly as they circled each other. Havoc charged first and was batted aside with its massive tail, it knocked the breath from him. Havoc sucked it up and flew back to circling his foe. They growled at each other, beginning to get closer simultaneously.

Havoc went first, swooping overhead before stooping towards the foe. The dragon loosed a tongue of flame at him and he dodged to the side, right into the dragon’s swinging claws. He was almost grabbed but kicked out before the crushing grip closed. Afterwards he scrambled across the arm with his powerful wing claws until he got midway up the upper arm. Once there he dug his claws in and started slamming his hooves down and the scales cracked quickly, he jumped off before the other’s second set of claws slammed down on the spot. The dragon roared in pain at the unintended self injury, Havoc had actually intended to keep slamming his hooves down and pierce the flesh. The dragon snarled as he blasted the startled Havoc with fire, Havoc was only grazed because of a swift back sweep. He hissed at the little that made its way to him, no wonder baby Spike had been so scared. Havoc charged but kept his wings readied for maneuvering, it slowed him down but it was worth it. The dragon shot a wing out and he kept going by bouncing along it, he impaled the shoulder scales and began climbing towards the head. He noted the dragon had yellow spines as he moved alongside them.

He climbed quickly as he would soon be found, and all the bombing and tanking and hammering in this world would be needed to save him then. The dragon started thrashing to dislodge him, this was good. Despite it knowing he was latched on it wouldn’t thrash if it knew where he was latched on. He kept crawling and remained silent despite the battering he received. He reached just behind the head and bit down on an ear fin to swing himself with brutal force. His hind hooves slammed into the side of the dragon’s head and he heard a crunch. The dragon fell, his eyes closed tightly. Havoc relentlessly held on even as the dragon thrashed in agony. He began to pull up while still gripping the dragon, with his teeth. He made a muffled roar and grasped the giant in his magic. The tail ripped a building in half as it swept down and back up. Havoc released his jaws grip and focused his magic on the dragon’s pain wracked form, he struggled against Havoc’s mental grasp. Havoc started with the crack he’d made in the dragon’s skull. It sealed and the blood stopped spilling internally. Havoc then moved onto its scorched chest and the crushed muscles of its left forearm. Finally he focused on the damaged eyelid and and cheek bone. They left great fearsome scars but he figured dragons liked that, he certainly liked the scars he had acquired. Like the one from Gullfaxi’s greatsword when it pierced his shoulder. Mostly invisible, but still.

“You have won little drake. Heh heh heh. You have great things ahead of you, so what do you want nestclast?” The mighty dragon rumbled. He looked angry but his voice sounded... Happy, like he’d found something of interest.

“I claim your territory in the name of Equestria...” Havoc got out before puking into the street.

“Why do you serve the alicorns little one? Join the A.D.C, at least that would gain you something. Though I am independent of them I would rather see my own in command.” The mighty predator hinted.

After wiping some corroded liquid metal from his lips Havoc answered, “I owe the high princesses old one. They took me from a very bad place which I could not escape on my own. I have six more territories to claim so can we speed this up?” After that he coughed violently, riding and fighting an angry dragon is not a good idea.

“Hmmm... Take my eldest daughter. We do not have much regarding inheritance besides killing or beating it from an adversary but that should ‘speed this up’ as you put it.”

“What do you mean ‘take your eldest daughter’?”

“She is to be your mate if you wish to make haste, in the event that I die normally the eldest son would claim the sands. However seeing that you have bested me and wish to give this land to your princesses and their king you must take my daughter. She can be rebellious but your actions may have won her over.”

“Kaah! Sure... Where is she and is there some sort of ceremony?” He said after spitting out blood. He had no idea why he didn’t just swallow it, the same was true of what he was soon to encounter. Funny fact. Most dragons can’t get fat after a certain point, all the minerals they eat are digested and absorbed into their bodies. This is part of what makes dragon scales so tough.

“That was incredible!” A feminine voice called from a shape emerging from the dissipating storm cloud. A bronze scaled, black spined, yellow eyed, clearly female dragon came into focus swiftly. She was clearly female because of the shape of her body, scales, spines, and eyes. The curves were smooth and the spines were thinner and longer than those of a male. Her sockets appeared to be shaped differently, they were closer to those of a zebra than the males. Her tail ended in a blade with two horizontal back curving spines at the base. The wings were narrower but also longer, the skin flaps were not as great as those of a male while the wing bones reached further. She also had two wing thumbs rather than one. When she came close Havoc noticed that she was a little bigger than him. She grasped him and pulled him against her chest while maintaining flight.

“The ceremony has but two parts. The first is a great roar to confirm dominance, you should do in it the middle of the city and over the river to ensure all hear it. The second is...” The dragon looked hesitant, “The second part is to perform the act involved in reproduction.” That sounded like a refined version of the standard procedure involved in claiming territory from Havoc’s world. It wasn’t as brutal or bloody as marking your territory with your bodily waste and the pieces of the losers carcass, that’s for sure.

“I’m... having... some... difficulty... breathing...” Havoc strained out. He didn’t want to struggle and possibly injure her.

“Oh I’m so sorry!” She said as she relaxed her grip. Her scales didn’t feel rough against him.

“No issue. I’m tough as you saw.” Havoc said in an effort to calm her.

“I know. That was incredible the way you bested him even though he was at least fifteen times your size, I mean you just cracked his head with a single kick!! It...” She faltered as her father growled deeply. He did not want or need to see his daughter fawning over somebody. He wished even less to see the full ceremony of the proclaiming of dominance. He was planning on leaving well before that. The reality was not what he desired however.

“Hey are you planning to leave elder?” Havoc asked quickly.

“That is custom, yes.” He answered.

“Well you shouldn’t.”

“And why not?”

“Your daughter will need an advisor. You may have heard that I need to conquer six more cities. Well I’m on a tight schedule seeing as I’m being hunted down by alicorns.”

“Why do they hunt you little one?” The dragon was genuinely curious. Why hunt their own agent?

“Well it's incentive. The eighteen assigned to me are to try to stop me using any means they deem fit. This pressures me to keep going until all my tasks are complete. And I have to do them alone so I can’t bring your daughter with me.”

“Well Soundburst? What do you think?”

“Haaah, so exciting. Not only do you fight like no other, but you’re on a death quest too! Of course I’ll need you here father! I want the place standing in case my little blood warrior survives. I’ll be waiting at the palace.” She said and gave his horn a lick before flying off. He twitched and struggled to regain control, he had felt things scrape against his bones before and it was agonizing. That was the opposite.

“Ummm... to the center then?” Havoc asked nervously, not that he was afraid of the angry dragon. Rather he was afraid he would lose control of his body and fall twitching to the road, no, rooftops below.

“Heeeeggghhh, follow me.” The dragon said and flew further following the current. Havoc dutifully followed and they arrived swiftly.

“Here is the spot. Before you roar, remember it must come from your core. Do not force your throat, just let it come from within. My name is Soulscorch by the way.”

“Thank you Soulscorch. My name is Bellator, well really it’s Havoc but I can’t let the alicorns catch me so I use a false name now.” Havoc replied gratefully, the dragon snorted mightily in response. Then he moved away.

Havoc inhaled deeply and tried to let it flow as instructed. The city was beautiful, beautiful oddly topped buildings. Like ice cream from the cone, at least from what he saw on the show. Havoc had never seen real ice cream and cake, perfectly good ancient cake from a vacuum lock, had made him puke long after his stomach was empty. He couldn’t handle the sugar. As he relied upon instinct he felt magic building up inside of him. His release was almost catastrophic.

“RRRRRRRRRRRRRRooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggg!!!!!!!” Exploded from his open jaws, the bass of it caused his entire body to vibrate. His body had tingled in response to the big dragon’s voice forcing unnatural motion but this was extreme. Clouds fell apart from it.

“Well done, now follow me if you can still see after that.” The elder dragon said and flew off. Havoc shakily followed, he was having trouble controlling his twitching muscles. They passed over a vast and beautiful city where unicorn, earth pony, zebra, pegasi, antelope, lion, earth drake, and even the odd deer or gryphon walked in equality. Havoc saw alicorns gaping at him from a very large structure up ahead. It looked big enough to fit four dragons of Soulscorch’s size through its main gate. He tried to stabilize himself as he followed Soulscorch, his wake was doing most of the work involved in Havoc’s current flight. The dragon wheeled up and sent Havoc flying towards a window with a parting phrase.

“This is the new king of Sandislan, until it becomes an official part of Equestria. He calls himself Bellator, take care of him.” Then he flew high, oh so high, and was lost in the clouds. That just so happened to be conveniently placed above him in a vast blanket.

Havoc would have crashed into the stone through the empty port but was caught by three separate alicorns who were located very nearby. The females eyes looked on the verge of bugging out. A fourth was by them, she seemed calm however. In fact she looked contemplative. Havoc could see a sort of rippling about her. It was similar to something he couldn’t quite place. Suddenly he was on his hooves and glaring down at her, his breathing was heavy but his limbs were steady.

“Er, hehe... Do I know you handsome sir?” She said nervously after a moment without reaction. Not even a moment really, hardly a split second. However Havoc saw it. It wasn’t the lack of reaction brought on by overt suddenness, rather the lack of reaction from something that didn’t actually care. That was something Havoc knew better than likely any being on this planet. He had been like that once, probably still was. It hadn’t been long. He would warn Soundburst of this one.

“No. You just remind me of somepony I knew long ago. She was... A good friend and kindred spirit, in a sense. I doubt she remembers my existence, after all it has been awhile. And its not like I ever made her dinner or shared a meal with her.” Havoc said and narrowed his eyes slightly. He felt something was off with this one.

“Ahem.” Havoc heard as a claw tapped his shoulder. Ah think of the shedragon. Havoc smiled at her, he had information that was likely crucial.

“Soundburst, good to see you!” He said and hugged her, he liked the warmth and the smoothness of the scales. She felt even warmer than before and her muscles underneath the scales kept twitching.

“Come with me champion.” She said warmly and Havoc let go of her, he fell into step a respectful and cautious distance from her at first. He still felt the moisture. However he sidled up beside her and whispered his findings to her, she was a head taller than him so this was new for him.

“Soundburst, I don’t trust the pink one with the red hair. There’s just something off about her.”

“Hmmm,” She looked like she was thinking hard, but a look right at him changed her tune. “Because I really like you I’ll tell you why. Only if you agree to keep it secret, also you’ll owe me two services and I intend to collect one very soon.”

“Deal.” Havoc said without pause.

“Mmm, she’s a changeling.”

Havoc’s legs were on autopilot, which was why he didn’t trip when he heard that. Changelings? Here? Where was Chrysalis, why were they harboring changelings?

“Why?”

“Well they do feed on love. There is abundant love here, not as much as they’d like but still. They can spread to other areas using the river anyways and while they prefer to stay with their queen they do as they must. They maintain long distance relationships with the queen using the postal service. Maybe I’ll bring you to meet her later, I think you’d like her.” Soundburst said followed by a wing stroke along his back.

“Where is she anyway?” He asked, he’d actually thought the changelings were pretty lethal aside from their method of feeding. Lethal was somewhat like cool, radical, awesome, epic, etc. for his culture. The spikes, the color, the hive style... All flackin’ lethal. Flack is another interesting term in his culture, they like it when it’s used in their favor but hate it when it’s turned against them. It was like the word f*** for them only it’s not considered a bad thing to say. So someone might be flacked, or you might hear ‘flack you’, or perhaps ‘flacking awesome man’ or ‘eat flack’. Sometimes that last one has ‘and die’ added to its end.

“In her underground hive fortress, its got a series of tunnels leading in and out of it. It was dug by earth hounds and drakes after the queen came here begging for aid after her people were thrown out of Equestria. In addition the changelings did their part to dig it up and strengthen it overall until the hive was acceptable by the queens standards. That green slime they can spit up is really something.”

“They must really owe your family now.”

“Yes they certainly do, I never got your name bloody one. Is it because you were never given one to disassociate yourself from everyone else? Or maybe you were orphaned and never taken in and you’re constantly moving from battle to ever more glorious battle so you never had time to name yourself? Or is it something even more incredible?” She asked eagerly, wow was this a long walk.

“Er don’t tell anyone but my name’s Havoc. I’m going by Bellator to mask my identity.” He whispered conspiratorially.

“Then why tell me?” She whispered back.

“I don’t lie to beings I have sex with.”

“Good policy.” She whispered back, she looked around. “Let’s fly.” She said and they flew.

Her room, as Havoc assumed, was marked with a series of claw marks which Havoc assumed were some form of draconic. That or the claw markings were unique enough to differentiate between them. The door had purple, green, yellow, and blue gems that formed an intricate pattern that filled it. In fact it looked like the door was mostly gem, he could see through it partly.

She opened the door with an odd slot. she inserted her hand, horizontally flat, and turned it right. He heard a click and she returned her hand to horizontally flat. She pulled it open wide enough to enter and gave him time to slip in before entering herself. The slot was present on the other side as well. She locked it by turning her hand left and Havoc assumed individual systems were at work. She gestured wordlessly to a depression surrounded by gems and artifacts and Havoc slowly walked over, his brain sending conflicting signals. Lust, hunger, a need for dominance all vied for his attention. She arrived by his side and he smelled her pheromones, lust won the battle. He assumed she released them from either pores under her scales or, more likely, her anus or vagina. Either way she was emitting strongly and he staggered when their full weight hit him. Then he was erect again, he was also extended from his internal sheath.

She slunk down by his side as the smell of him down there reached her nostrils, after inhaling deeply she rushed over to the pit. Her tail tip twitched, the main length lashing from side to side in anticipation. She got in a semi crouched position by a pile of sapphires and looked at him invitingly. He quickened his pace and placed his forelegs upon her back when he arrived. He looked into her eyes before focusing on the task at hoof. He could see her opening, the scales around it further parted to reveal smooth sand colored skin surrounding a slightly open red cave. He aimed his member and was relieved to find he didn’t look small compared to it, the remembered the second one.

“Umm, problem.”

“What?!” She asked in frustration.

“I have two penises.”

“Oh...” She had not expected that. This was just one more thing to add to his epicness. He was so male that he had two penises instead of one.

“Hmmm, alright I’ll just put the top one in and let the other slide along the scales between your legs.”

She considered their options, that was an okay start but there was something she was willing try... That was as far as she got before he entered her and the new sensation stole her mind away.

Her insides were tight. Very tight, it squeezed at him mercilessly and he felt close just from that. He made it all the way in, as allowed by this angle, and paused to calm down. It didn’t work and he just got to the edge.

“Flack you’re tight! W-where do you want i-it. F*** your squeezing is driving me over the edge!”

“Anywhere! I’m not even squeezing!” She moaned, this was painful yet pleasurable at the same time. Dragons were built smaller and thinner because evolution required it in order to support their powerful builds.

Havoc just released between her thighs and up on her belly. He pulled mostly out and thrust back in three times before he needed to release again.

“Are we supposed to be making hatchl-lings?”

“Ye-e-es!!” She said shakily.

Havoc shot inside of her. His potential flowed into her and it didn’t have far to go. Havoc’s larger relative size meant he was near the cervix. The eggs were being generated by her cycle. She had entered her reproductive cycle when Havoc’s victory roar reached her, it sent a primal signal to her body that informed her that it was time to make babies. He pulled back and resumed his actions, they releases hardly slowed their pace, two meant more stimulation.

“Hold on a sec-... second.” She said as she pulled free and got on her back, the motion and her own releases had weakened her legs. She spread her legs wide, resting them to the sides, and made an offer. “Wanna try something with those two?”

“What do y-you have in mind?”

“Well I was hoping to taste you... And seeing the pair gave me an idea regarding my own two.”

“What do you mean?”

“My well... holes... back there...”

“I think I get it.” Havoc moved over her until his members were over her neck, near the head. She snaked her neck up and took one in her mouth, the other bumped against the underside of her lower jaw. She felt his shudders as she licked at him, she was new to this. Havoc’s right wing reached down to grasp the back of her head.

“Is it called sucking here?” He asked.

“Mmmhhmm.” She said.

“Mm, well there’s a reason.” She did as suggested and he sighed in satisfaction.

“Now that you’ve got that down, you should try humming.” She hummed lowly and he hummed in pleasure.

“Now try moving deeper, take more of the shaft with your up and d-down motions.” She did as ordered, enjoying being subject to his will. She went at this for a short while.

“Now when I ejaculate, swallow it.” He commanded and soon released into her mouth. She hungrily swallowed it. It tasted funny to her. Gems, metal, and a little salt were in the flavor. She liked it. She licked it thoroughly to ensure she got it all. When she stopped he pushed her head back down. He moved backwards and got onto his rear knees. His wings grabbed her hips and pulled them up as he blindly pushed down, entry. She grabbed him with her not so tired legs to help him stay in, it hurt more than she had imagined and she squeezed mercilessly. This caused him to shoot loads into her as he had entered fully and his full length was being crushed at. She screamed a draconic scream as the burning warmth went up her... Wow.

She felt herself releasing her bowels and urine sprayed against him. She was glad she hadn’t eaten recently. She felt ashamed of herself and tears welled up in her eyes. He pulled mostly out then slammed back in and the tears came with another scream. His eyes were closed she saw as he worked at her. She gripped at him with her arms and he held them both up as he continued despite her cries and the pee on his crotch. She soon ejaculated as she accepted what was happening, her neck coiled around his and her tongue infiltrated his mouth. It hurt so good. More shot into her and she clenched even tighter as she released in reaction. Now it seemed he had a constant flow going into her. They went for a short but endless while and he lay down and she gripped him. He stayed inside despite the wonderful torture. Until her legs released him and her tail slapped at him. He moved off and out. She rolled onto her belly and got her legs to hold her up while still resting, she lifted her tail and moved it to the side.

Despite himself he jumped on her and landed inside. He resumed feeling the wonderful, painful joy of her overly tight holes. Her saliva flowed freely from her mouth, pooling on the stone it laid upon. Her eyes were glazed and she stared at nothing. Havoc nipped at her throat, just behind her head, and she yelped. He didn’t know why he did that, he just did. It did cause her to press her crotch against his nicely. Her tail wrapped around his waist as well. He grabbed her head in his jaws and held it close, he heard her saliva as it dripped down to her body. Then something different happened. Her tail gripped him strongly and when he released it her head pressed against the bottom of his lower jaw. Their crotches pressed against each other and his phalluses became locked into her orifices. It felt like they were constricting his reproductive members. Their eyes widened and their tongues lolled out, further out in her case. They couldn’t move, he felt like he was being drained of reproductive fluid. As he poured copiously into her, she followed instinct and bit into his throat from the underside. His hooves gripped her thighs and pulled her against him while his wings gripped the front of her chest.

When he finally stopped releasing they collapsed to the stone as one, her jaws weakly held their grip on his throat. His wings still held her by the chest and he didn’t know if he could pull free. They laid there for an age it seemed. In fact they fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Time: 12:03 A.M. 11 days 12 hours 3 minutes since savior spell
Location: Soulburn palace, Sandislan city
…

Havoc awoke to warmth. His eyes opened and he saw a beautiful dragoness laying beneath him. The eye facing him opened fully and she smiled, he smiled back. He didn’t fully understand but it had felt great. Now he was incredibly hungry however. Seemingly knowing this she slid her rear nearer to a pile, he helped push them their. He gorged on the gems until he was full. Then laid against her for a while. She tried to get free and he stood on his hind legs. She pulled free and lay on her side with an arm up. He placed his back against her underside and laid a wing across her stomach as she laid her arm on his chest and her right wing across his body. They simply relaxed in that position. Havoc had not been held since he was a baby.

“I...” She started but gave up on it. “Wanna go see Chrysalis?”

“Sure.” He agreed calmly. They rose and shakily started walking.

“Ooww!!” She cried out.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Ummm, my... holes are sore. So are my legs.”

“Oh, Well let my magic support you. Nobody will notice if I do it right.” He said and focused his magic into a platform beneath her stomach and between her legs. He didn’t know why he didn’t just repar her, something told him not to mess with her insides though.

“Thanks.” She did not question him.

They made their way into the halls and flew down a hidden passage, it went very deep. They eventually reached a point where green coated the walls. They went deeper and the tunnel widened and branched. A changeling was sitting guard on an outcrop of green. It hissed at them and they heard a low buzz. Soon a changeling emerged from a tunnel above and to the right and it hovered before them. It gestured with a forelimb for them to follow. They followed it despite its great speed and it lead them on a confusing journey, they passed numerous strange sights. A cavern full of great green pods, that were in turn filled with what appeared to be eggs. An expanse where changelings appeared to be fighting one another, they even saw changelings practising their shapeshifting.

After a while they slowed, the changeling seemed to be grinning. They passed by a group of extra large changelings, these sported thick natural armor and extra spikes. The spikes on their body sprouted from the larger plates along the spine and flanks. Their wings were huge and slightly tattered. They had a pair of horns that came from the sides of their head in addition to the unicorn-like horn, these were longer and a few had clearly seen use. This was evident by the damage they retained, some were chipped and some were gouged, some were broken off partially or fully. All looked experienced, the spikes coming from their chitinous plates and the numerous scars supported this. They glared past the trio.

The chamber they entered fairly pulsed with life. Regular changelings and soldiers alike crawled about, tending to the walls and odd organic structures or simply milling aimlessly around the queen. She looked at them expectantly. Havoc grinned at how cool this was. Ah cool. A strictly pony thing where he was from. He’d heard frosty, cold, chill, and even ice but cool belonged to the fandom alone. It was almost a means of identification, so unused it was. Whatever Chrysalis was in sight! She was even more lethal in person. The sleek carapace/hide, the arthropod wings, the twisted horn, the fangs, and they eyes What eyes they were!

“Hello Chrysalis! It’s been too long since I last saw you queen!” Havoc called out eagerly.

“How do you know me?” She asked with eyes narrowed. Her voice had a guttural undertone that blended well with the reverberation and her own voice, at least in Havoc’s mind.

“Can’t say, though I say you could have done better with the Canterlot invasion. Should have learned more about Cadence, mimicked her. And couldn’t you have just had your troops stealth in? They are changelings, they mimic others. Just have them mimic somepony, foalnap them, and replace them. Easy infiltration. Of course I saw your failure and the success and failure of many others so I have no idea what I’m spewing right now.”

She blinked. She had figured most of it out before, she still wanted Equestria’s vast love reserves after all. However he had seen her fall? He had made plans for her future invasion? Who was this male? He was an alicorn and that made him rare enough. Too valuable for her to steal away, she could see the control ring on his horn. It kept him out of her reach, then again the dragon did too. She owed that clan, she owed them greatly. Perhaps she could negotiate use of him, he seemed pretty cold.

“You saw that?” She asked and her wings buzzed.

“Some of it. What do you call your subjects anyway? And were those your eggs we passed?! If so who’s the lucky male, eh?” He asked with a predatory grin. His teeth were awfully sharp. She didn’t like the things he might do with them. Her horn glowed, almost unnoticeable in its function due to the frequency with which it glowed and the hive around them. He felt strange to her mind, she coiled around it and felt it out. It was cold. Very cold, yet somewhere beneath it burned with volcanic heat and she almost scorched her mind on it. Hatred was most of what he felt, cold and calculated yet burning and furious. She checked every crack in the ice ball that was the surface of his mind. At times she found pain, buried in the glacier or covered with a layer of burning fury. He had been hurt so many times... The pain he had endured had made his mind into what it was, a frozen shell broken by burning wrath. Somewhere there was something that resembled love, it was a tiny portion of his mind however. Drowned out by anger, pain, fear, and indoctrination it simply didn’t affect him in any way. He was mad, terribly mad. And just looking at his mind hurt her, she strained to free herself as the pain grew stronger. His mind latched onto hers in an attempt to fill in the missing pieces of itself, attempting to freeze her to him in its misery and desperation. She strained harder, never had she encountered something this monstrous. Its endless hunger sickened her and its strength filled her with fear, it was incredibly strong to have kept him going throughout whatever caused such terrible wounding. Finally she broke free with a groan.

“Are you okay Chrysalis?” Havoc asked when she fell. He nudged her with his nose and she twitched away violently before she curled into a fetal position. She held herself there, rocking back and forth while crying silently. Havoc could barely hear her sobs. He didn’t touch her, that seemed to make it worse. He just watched, as he did he felt hunger rise. Instinct urged him to take advantage of her weakness. It urged him to eat, kill, or rape her where she lay. He simply sat and drooled, watching her and getting the emotional equivalent of a rise out of it. He was conditioned to be like that. It was mesmerising to him, back and forth she rocked in place. So weak, so vulnerable, so... Tempting.

Mere minutes before instinct took over she got up and scooted away from him. She knew what he was thinking, vaguely. He had a predatory mind so she must have looked very inviting just now. She didn’t take her eyes off him while he was in her presence. She had felt his strength, mental, magical and otherwise. She saw the damage and didn’t trust the bond to hold him. This one had his uses but she had to be delicate in the utmost. Stroke his ego, soothe his pain, ease his fears, tend his wounds. Keep him happy so he didn’t turn on her and eat her alive. She knew he had done it in the past. His mind spoke to her. It had whispered in its cold, dead, hollow voice. It was like wind forced through the mouth of a frozen corpse. It told her of deeds done and battles lost. Fights that had cost him chunks of his body and very being. It whispered in its evil voice its plans to dominate the world and seek war eternal. War was its element, war was where it belonged, if the wars against Equestria kept ending at the pace they were he would soon run out of targets. When he did he would turn on his masters to sate his hunger. The voice had no name and this terrified her. Yes the flesh was named Havoc Nadeem Bellator but the mind and soul? The mind had no name, it just was. And the soul... The soul was not there, it simply didn’t exist. There wasn’t even a void to fill he was just built without one. When he died that was it, rather that was how it should be. But granted his new power he was immortal in a totally new way.

“Don’t touch me... Just... Don’t touch me. I... Don’t feel well. Drones. Attend me.” She whimpered and a few of the big ones came to her aid. They supported her with their shoulders as the normal changelings started puking or spitting green stuff on her. Her shakes slowly stopped and her tears ceased their flow. She calmed down, she was still wary of the monster however.

“... You have my support in all you do.” Chrysalis said in a measured tone.

“Just like that?!” Soundburst said in shock.

“He is... Unique.” Chrysalis proclaimed. No love to feed on but plenty of hate to use. The drones were born of love, anger, courage, and protectiveness. Love being the main food source for them. She had no idea what she could make from an endless fount like Havoc. Fear, anger, hate, fury, pain, and other fell emotions existed in him in unprecedented levels. Especially for a singular entity.

“Good, I may need your kind if I am to evade imprisonment. I trust you’ll be following me?”

“Changelings shall stalk you as we do prey. Those eggs weren’t mine you should know. My last mate died long before the failed Invasion.”

“Who’s then?” Havoc inquired excitedly.

“The workers.”

“Fascinating.”

“You are rich in emotions rarely found, may I drain you of some of them?”

“You can try.” Havoc said and grinned as he lowered his head and closed his eyes. Chrysalis’ horn glowed with a sickly nuclear green light. It enveloped his head and horn fully. Havoc felt some of his endless anger he had leaving him, he had numerous forms but all were anger. Havoc did not know the power of love but he knew that hate or anger could keep a man going long after he should have dropped dead. Once he was trapped in a vault, he had languished for weeks in that empty place. The only thing that kept him from giving in to starvation or ending his own life was his hatred for the one who left him there. Eventually someone had come to check out the vault and he had fed upon them with gusto. Then he had hunted down his cousin and tortured him to death, eating someone alive counts as torture.

Havoc felt the anger, fear, and pain stop leaving him and opened his eyes. He saw a worker changeling looking up at him. He looked up to Chrysalis and she seemed stronger than before, her eyes glowed with power. At least he assumed it was power. She smiled at him and her teeth shined in the light.

“I shall see you later Havoc, good luck in your quest.” She said. She had learned of many traumatic events in his life. Apparently the quest counted. She did agree, to an extent. That would be a great source of emotion for her to feed upon if it were her in his place. Which would be good for the swarm, and she always tried to do what was best for the swarm.

Havoc and Soundburst left, guided by the changeling that had been looking up at Havoc. Havoc was contemplative. He had wondered if love was really all they fed upon. He prided himself on how calm he remained, he had always liked Chrysalis. He didn’t know why, her style opposed his in nearly every way. Aaah, so that’s why! Her infiltration skills complement his own more direct skills. The assassin and the warrior in essence, a very tough team to beat. And of course she wouldn’t eat into his food stores, they occupied different niches in the worlds, and that was quite attractive in a partner.

The changeling turned into a winged zebra just before exiting the tunnel. Weird. They followed it as it led them to the courtyard, passing numerous statues and paintings if you'd call them that. The paintings in question were made of gems and rimmed with metal, how such things were made was something Havoc would give another's life to know. The courtyard was a vast expanse of sand, stone, and metal. And Havoc saw his companions sitting near the middle of it on a large mat covered by cloth streched between four poles. A primitive tent. He did not know why Pyropsyche was with them. So was that other mare he'd- Right, that was why. The trio approached and the changeling in the form of a... Zebragus? That was what Havoc decided to go with. The changeling stiffened, it was barely visible but Havoc's predatory senses caught it.

“You were not lying when you called yourself a conqueror of nations!” The phase one called out.

“Why would I lie about that?”

“I wasn’t saying you were lying. Just making a comment on it is all.” She returned.

“Yes, well I’ve got to go now. Busy schedule after all, dragon! Did you send a message to the princesses?”

“Will do...” Spike looked spooked. Like Havoc scared him more than before or something. Havoc saw the howdah under the tent and quickly pulled it to his side.

“See you later Soundburst.” Havoc said and brought his head low before rising it high once more. Then he grabbed his flexsteel cloak and slipped it on.

“Bye Bellator.” She said and flew back to the castle.

“Who was that?” Twilight asked.

“That was Soundburst, eldest daughter of Soulburn the former king. She is to rule in my stead with her father as an advisor.”

“That sounds acceptable. Now who’s your little friend there?”

“I am known as Scorch in your tongue, I believe you would find my language impossible to pronounce purple one.” He said in a thick African accent, Havoc could not place it seeing as he’d never heard a voice like that outside of the show. Havoc couldn’t place most accents really. All the cultures in the show are long dead in his world, the inflections of the voice associated with them were long gone.

Havoc strapped the howdah to his back and said, “You don’t have to guard them anymore. You can return to your compatriots.”

“Okay!” The phase one said. She followed Twilight and Spike up the wing he lowered and took a seat. Pyropsyche folded two of the chairs behind them into their bed forms and got comfortable as the changeling got into a seat beside the phase one. They all looked at him expectantly. Havoc shrugged and leapt into the air and flew over the walls towards the river.

“Where’s your ship!” He called to them.

“Why are we going there?” The phase one yelled in return.

“I thought you wanted a lift back to it!”

“No! I got permission to come with you guys! Pyro isn’t actually bound to the ship!”

“What?!”

“I was just there to see the sights! What better way to vacation than with you?!” Pyropsyche yelled.

“Well where to Star?!” Havoc asked.

“Next is Jungu’ This. Its to the Northeast or left of the rivers current.” She yelled. Havoc grumbled silently. Suddenly this seemed like a much longer trip.