CHAPTER 6: Expand and Diversify

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Time: 1:27 P.M. 11 days 13 hours 27 minutes since savior spell
Location: Somewhere past the Jungu’ This border mountains
…

Havoc was annoyed. They had been blabbering on about something or the other almost since he had left sight of the river. They were all such pests to him, he was used to marching with the only sounds being those of the environment and the sounds of an army on the move. His people's armies did not chatter as they moved, such was the height of hubris. They were silent until they were upon the foe. The sounds of tanks, gyrocopters, boats, hovercraft, planes, cars, walkers, and least of all assault trains could not be muted and as such were grimly accepted as the price of power. The silence was useful as it let them hear louder enemies nearby and Havoc did not know how many times it had saved him. And these beings just kept prattling on and on and on...

“Hey Star!” Havoc called.

“What?” She called back.

“Where are we?” He yelled.

“We passed the border range three minutes ago! If you keep going we should see the primary city soon. Be watchful, there are a lot of very dangerous things out here! This is like the Everfree on steroids!” She answered.

“What are steroids?” He asked.

“Supplements designed to make you stronger!”

“Like long term combat stimulants?”

“No! They don’t do all that!” She yelled.

“Oh!”

Havoc watched the dense jungle below. Ponies thought the Everfree was pretty bad, so what made them consider this place to be so much worse? He vaguely heard Twilight giving them information about the Jungu’ This region. He would have listened in but his ears were focused down, he didn’t want to risk damage to his charges. Especially Sparkle, who knew what fate his genitals would suffer should she come to harm? Surely not mutilation, but there were other equally terrible things to be done. Some of which involved needles, so many painful needles. He shook his head to clear the awful memory. He didn’t know how many times he had been tortured but he did know it was a lot. He liked Chrysalis, he really did. Dark and sharp and sleek like a shadow. Her fangs were so shiny and pointed, fangs... He shook his head again, this form was messing with his brain. He liked that one before but it was strictly nonsexual in nature. Now he was fantasizing about her extra length dentition, directly behind which was her pretty little mouth... Shake again.

Something roared below, a deep bellow. It sounded somewhat like an engine failing to start. Havoc was curious but stayed on his path. It was best not to investigate with passengers he knew from experience. He saw a giant of a tree rear out of the prevalent mist and moved aside, it would have taken far longer to go over it. The thing must be at least a hundred of his people’s stories tall. Its bark was a deep shade of brown and its leaves were like emeralds. He saw a similar, but much smaller, tree nearby. He saw an eye open and look at him as he passed. He would make sure to stay the nuke away from that thing if he ever passed by this area again. The changeling shrank away from it, the others looked at what he hid from and shuddered. That thing was huge, and if the big tree was like that then it might be very bad indeed.

There was a lot of old life in Jungu’ This. It was estimated that over half of the lifeforms in Jungu’ This were extinct outside of the great wet valley. Not extinct from overcompetition but from the other lands not being sufficient to sustain such beasts. Sometimes they were extinct elsewhere because the mighty Jungu’ This mountain range shielded them from whatever catastrophe had wiped them out beyond the mighty walls. Whatever the reason, life lasted in Jungu’ This long after it should be gone.

Havoc smelled something strange. It got his blood racing with the violence he felt the urge to commit. His ears turned to a faint rustling from the dark green canopy below. He had not a clue as to why he focused on that particular spot despite hearing the same sound from all around below. His eyes focused, moving in a pattern as his ears followed the sound. It appeared to be following them. He flew harder. The whistling of wind turned into a scream as he pumped his wings faster.

“What’s going on?!!” Spike yelled.

Havoc was silent. The thing continued to follow them, it was lagging though. It could not move at the same speed as Havoc restricted as it was by the trees. Havoc flew faster still and the scream became a howl. He heard the rustle turn into a crash. Then he heard a second pair of wings beating. He flew harder, it was catching up. A spear flew up and grazed his helm, this disoriented him and sent him into a spin as he lost his bearings. He was moving very fast, he saw a wall as he crashed into the tree tops. The passengers screamed, his wings rose to the sides of the howdah to protect them.

Havoc heard a roar from above as the thing was thwarted. He heard shouting from below the branches and closed his eyes to protect them. His head was pressed against the canopy of the howdah as further protection from stray branches. He heard the yelling from below turn to screaming as he crashed through. He heard and felt something break beneath him. He slid until he hit a tree and flipped violently. He was dazed by the impacts.

Havoc laid on his side as he waited for lucidity return. His companions groaned as they dragged themselves onto his side. The voices caught up to them and Havoc saw some freaky zebra things. Spikes of bone erupted from their shoulders, haunches, and spines. Running down beside the manes, they looked defensive in nature as opposed to decorative. Their irises were bright red. They looked bigger than normal zebra as well. Most wore armor of wood fused to bone, one near the middle had stone rather than bone fused to the slats. They were yelling angrily and were armed with spears and bows of bone. The spears had wickedly barbed stone heads and the haft was pale bone, the stone was melded seamlessly to the bone shaft. When Havoc rose unsteadily, dropping his comrades in the process, they backed up. They looked from him to Spike who had also just gotten to his feet and started to retreat, the stone armored one pushed through them to confront the travelers by himself.

“Neth visht kalti alt slethszen!” He yelled in what Havoc assumed was a broken voice.

“Wah?” He asked blearily in confusion.

“Kin el golt neth! Kolthos nas arstrick ree neth clatbult, kolthos clor vestu threen!” The big zebra like creature yelled before running off with the rest of the group.

“What was he all about?” Havoc asked Twilight.

“I don’t recognize the language but it seems similar to that of the Blood Stripes.” She answered hesitantly.

“Who?” He asked, still in a daze from the numerous impacts to his head and horn.

“The oldest surviving tribe of zebra. They are thousands of years old, they predate the princesses by a good four thousand years. That sounded similar. I think those were dire zebra.”

“Don’t know what those are. I hear something big, or angry.” Havoc said as he tried to shake off the pain, how Twilight was fine was- wait she has magic. He then lamented not using his own to at least shield his head.

Then something big and angry crashed through the lower branches and roared before it slammed into the ground. It cleared the little dust with a flap of its wings. It was as tall as Havoc if not more so. It looked like an alicorn combined with a dragon or a dinosaur. It had white plates of bone and scales covering its hide. The plates covered the thighs, shoulders, and individual ribs. Tough looking, heavy, dark green scales covered the areas around them as well as the rest of its body. In place of hooves it had three toed feet, possibly hands. They ended in sharp black claws. Its spiraled horn was off white and was scarred with use. Its eyes were solid black. It had a somewhat lengthy tail that lashed about angrily, it was not hair like an equines. It was a powerful muscled limb that had five sets of four spikes that went down a third of its length on its end. It looked furious, flaring its leathery wings menacingly and tearing up the turf with its claws. They had nine fingers in all each, six for flying and three for grasping.

“What is that?” Havoc asked darkly as he stared into its eyes. It glared back hatefully.

“It can’t be...” She breathed.

“What can’t be?” Havoc asked through gritted and bared teeth.

“That looks like a protocorn. But they went extinct LONG ago!” She cried with shock and it struggled to direct its attention to both of them.

“What in the name of madness is a protocorn?” Havoc asked before he finally projectile vomited, the vomit landed before the protocorn’s feet and it snarled.

“They are the progenitors of all ponykind! They were the species that became horses and ponies of every species! They even predate alicorns, in fact they became alicorns! But they went extinct long ago, the alicorns were formed over a million years after the last died. Protocorns were outcompeted by their weaker descendants, the weaker beings bred faster, grew faster, and were more capable of working together than the protocorns. While protocorns fought to the death for mates and territory their descendants worked together to make the most of their resources. Eventually they just faded away, the most recent remains are one million, eight hundred ninety two thousand, six hundred and seventy three years old. And that was found in a glacier on a far side of the planet! Besides, while they were bigger than ponies they were still smaller than horses so no way is that one.”

It bared its teeth revealing sharp incisors and long fangs. It scraped it massive wings’ claws through the turf and charged Havoc. Havoc counter-charged and they impacted with brutal force. They circled and charged again, this time Havoc grabbed him and swung him aside with his forehooves. Only to be grabbed and pulled along by its wings. They tumbled across the turf until they impacted a nearby tree, they bounced in opposite directions and leaped at each other. Havocs superior weight sent him on top but the thing smashed him across the jaw with a heavy foreclaw and Havoc’s head snapped back. It pushed itself on top and Havoc kicked it in the relatively soft guts with his hind legs. It went into the air before diving down on him and making deep dents in his cuirass. Havoc and it gouged at each other with their horns and they impacted at times. Havoc bit down on it once went it almost got his eyes and it roared as it removed its legs from him and swung Havoc up. By its now punctured horn. Havoc released halfway through the arc and with a flap slammed into it from above. It held steady and made a series of dents in the meteor metal armor with its tail, what was this thing made of to do that?

Havoc gamely held on and started to bite at its scaly throat, his teeth sawed against them. He was making headway but it got fed up and smacked him off with a powerful wing. He rolled and got to his hooves and charged, rearing up at the last moment to present the hooves he had used for impaling so many times before. The scales cracked but nothing more, it bit him and its teeth scraped off leaving furrows. Havoc tried again with its chest and the plates barely showed the fractures. He and the protocorn circled each other warily. Both was aware of the deadliness of the foe. Havoc was getting excited again, it was emitting a scent that drove him to violence. After a few more moments he charged, foaming at the mouth with bloodlust.

The protocorn smashed him down with a wing before leaping on and biting at the back of its throat, just behind his head. Its teeth struggled against the tough armor. Havoc grabbed it with his magic and slammed it into a tree. It roared in surprise. It snarled and leaped at Havoc, who caught it in midair. It struggled vainly.

“You can’t use magic can you?” Havoc said with a grin. It responded by force shoving him through a giant common to the forest. Havoc snarled as he realised his hubris. Of course the thing knew magic. Havoc leaped from the devastated and fallen trunk to land on his hooves. He check his wings and they were damaged moderately. He threw fireballs at it and it looked scared as it avoided them. It looked confused by the fire. It whinnied monstrously and started to shy away. Havoc drained the space around the fire of oxygen and it died. The protocorn looked afraid.

“The fire scares you?!” Havoc yelled, “Well try this!” He said before striking him thrice with lightning. It fell with a scream and rolled in agony. Havoc lashed it with a whip of power followed by a few force slams. It screamed as he battered it. Havoc felt blood dripping from himself and sent the thing through a tree. He heard rustling somewhere but ignored it and followed the thrown protocorn. He saw it had also gone through a column supporting a section of ceiling of an odd stone temple. Havoc charged it as it shakily rose and it pointed its horn to him. Havoc moved aside and it impaled itself in his armor, its gouged his flank and he roared into the protocorns ear. It ducked away with a squeak, rather it tried to. Havoc bit it around the throat and applied pressure, there was no escape and it was in no position to bite back. Havoc was lifted as it rose and began to claw at his chest. He bit harder and the scales compressed and began to splinter. It started slashing with its wings and Havoc reacted in kind. He too started to flail his forelimbs wildly, at times they hit the protocorns body. Other times they impacted the claws, and sometimes they hit air. Havoc felt the scales splinter and they cracked apart and he felt his teeth puncture tough hide.

“Stop!!” The voice of Twilight called out.

They paused, breathing heavily. Havoc’s teeth had drawn blood and his chest was bleeding heavily, his wings and forelegs were torn up as well. The protocorn was suffering internal bleeding and its wings too were sliced. In places Havoc’s hooves had cracked the rib plating and drawn blood. They were still twitching with bloodrage.

“Do you realize what you’re doing?! Not only are you killing a member of a critically endangered species, but look what you did to this lost temple! This place has markings like nothing I’ve ever read about! You should be ashamed of yourself! Inferno, pry them apart!”

Spike ran up to them and pulled the protocorn’’s horn from under Havoc’s armor with a single powerful pull. Havoc looked at it menacingly and it lowered its head in fear, it shakily stepped back before collapsing. Havoc stomped over and kicked it hard with a foreleg, flipping it through the air. It stayed down and started crying. Havoc stepped closer and broke a wing under a powerful hoof and it screamed, but it stayed down. Havoc gave it a kick in the head and bit a chunk from one of its ears in a final act of spite before backing off. It shook where it laid, shivering, bleeding, whimpering, and crying. But it did not get up.

“Why did you do that! He’s already down!” She complained.

“We believe in kicking people when their down where I’m from. Then we stab them to death, unless we don’t have a stabbing weapon. Basically we abuse and then kill.” Havoc bellowed resolutely causing her to move away from him.

“You stopped me from murdering the weakling, why?!” He asked furiously.

“He might be the last of his kind! You can’t go around wiping out species because you got into a fight with them!”” She argued.

“He tried to kill me!”

“He was defending his territory!”

“He doesn’t even know how to do anything beside telekinesis, he freaked out when I threw a few fireballs his way! Why does he deserve life?!”

“... That proves it.” She said in a quiet tone.

“Proves what?!”

“He must be the last to not know any spells. Protocorns were feared for their immensely powerful spellcraft and while vicious they didn’t abandon their foals. To be scared of a fireball he must have been orphaned for some reason. You can’t kill him Bellator. He’s the last of his kind.”

“How is he of use to me?!”

Twilight cantered over to him and he tried to crawl away. Havoc glared at her, eyes glowing with rage. She placed a hoof on his shoulder and he cringed, expecting a blow. Instead she stroked his neck gently. After a while of this he stopped flinching with every touch and just laid in place, chest heaving. He looked at Havoc with fear. Havoc was getting angrier every second and his eyes glowed like an active volcano. Twilight’s horn glowed and the protocorn’s wing began to mend. He cried out as the pain hit him, she applied a numbing spell. He pulled his injured head against her and whinnied gratefully. It sounded dreadful, like a T-rex trying to mimic a horse. She gently rubbed his head with the hoof that had been stroking his neck.

“You poor, poor stallion. You’ve been alone out here a long time haven’t you? You don’t even understand what I’m saying but I’m going to keep talking anyway. I know my voice soothes you big fellow. You poor orphan. I bet you have been hoping a female would pass by weren’t you? Well chances are one never will, I know from very good research that it takes hundreds of years for you to mature. You poor creature.” She said in an even tone. Havoc’s eyes were like a nuclear detonation, a meltdown in a power plant that scorched the world. It lit up the darkness of the temple in full. The others had finally caught up, slowed by the howdah they barely dragged behind them. They saw the scene and stayed away from Havoc, looking at the lit temple and gasping in surprise.

“You touch him and I’ll tell the alicorns where we are right now.” Twilight proclaimed as she noticed Havoc inching closer.

“You wouldn’t dare.” He growled.

“Yes I would, you know I would.”

Havoc’s mind was alight with torture. First he would break her horn. Second he would break her legs, smashing every inch if he had to. Then he would rip off her cutie marks. Then when she thought it couldn’t get any worse he would impregnate her while holding her by her skinless thighs. He would torture her every day until his offspring was spawned. Then he would deny her it, or them. He would feed them on her blood and tears. They would grow up hating her and then finally after years of pain he would feed her to it/them, alive. He would make a nice banner with her marks and wear her hide like a neck wrap. Maybe he’d use her horn and teeth in a shiny necklace. This was deep psycho, Havoc was used to this sort of thinking. He had lived that way for years.

“You will regret this Midnight, you and your future offspring.” He promised darkly. Twilight seemed unphased. The protocorn nuzzled her tearfully.

“Inferno call send a letter to the princess. Tell her we found a protocorn, and tell her to hurry before Havoc tries to eat it or something.” Twilight ordered while protectively holding the protocorns head. Its wings were still healing. Havoc glared at the dragon as he nervously wrote the letter. He suspected that Havoc would break every bone he could find if he got the chance. He blasted it with green flame while Havoc stared at him unblinkingly. A full two minutes later Celestia teleported in. She saw how the room was lit by Havoc’s fury, saw her dragon toy being glared at, saw the heavily wounded protocorn being calmed by Twilight, and saw the odd retinue they’d gathered. She blinked a few times. Then she hit Havoc with a neutralizing spell, a very strong one. It took five minutes straight of this but eventually he wobbled, then fell. The hateful glow disappeared and was replaced by Celestia’s gentle one. She approached the shaking protocorn and rubbed beside his horn.

“SSShhhh, I won’t hurt you.” It was eased by her beautiful voice and its shakes stopped.

“You did well Twilight. How did you convince him not to kill this fine specimen?” She asked as she ran her eyes down its battered form. Her horn glowed yellow and its body began healing.

“I threatened to reveal his location to the eighteen who pursued him.”

“Crude but effective.”

“Where will you take him?”

“I’m leaving him with you.”

“WHAT?!” Everyone conscious yelled.

“Who better to observe the equus primigenius? Besides he needs to learn to deal with his anger problems.”

“But-but-but..”

“Ah ah ah. No buts on this one. Besides I think he needs a male friend besides Silent Gale, sure he can’t talk and will probably be submissive for the rest of his life due to the mental scars Bellator gave him. But he will count, just as soon as you teach him basic equine. You know what? I’ll teach him right now.” She said and gripped his head in a blue aura. She lowered her eyelids and gently guided knowledge into his brain, it entered like a cool stream. The protocorn’s brain was soothed by this. She took the advantage to learn a bit about him- make that it. She did not know that they worked that way. Oh well, she would get use of him eventually.

“Midnight Star?”

“Yes princess?” Twilight answered warily.

“He is going to be rather hormonal for a while.”

“How long?”

“About a month give or take a day.”

“Any explanation?”

“You’ll see.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

“I don’t like it at all, not yet anyway. But it will interest you. I promise you will not be bored of him in the least.”

“What’s with the emphasis on his gender?”

“You’ll see. By the way, coincidentally Havoc will be out for two months from the strength of the tranquilizer I administered.”

“What!”

“Well it had to be that strong. Do you know how angry he was? It felt like trying to put out a furnace with a squirt gun. Well the city is that way, ta~ta.” She said and teleported away. A glowing line was eagerly pointing out of the temple. The group sighed at their misfortune. Then a team of glowing horses formed beside the howdah and Twilight smiled.

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Time: 9:45 P.M. 74 days 21 hours 45 minutes since savior spell
Location: Nox Amare, Jungu’ This
…

Liber Havoc was tense. She was terrified of the being that had brought her low and was glad for the additional days he was unconscious. Two months and three days was apparently more accurate. They knew because he was stirring, moving more frequently. She sat and bit her lip anxiously as she cursed her biology. Protocorns only stay male so long as they remain the dominant protocorn, which helped explain all the fighting they did. No protocorn wanted to be a female. Female meant you were weak, females had to accept instead of give, females had to give birth. That took a long time for them and of course it left them vulnerable. As the last he was the most dangerous equine in Jungu’ This which automatically made him the alpha male. hen he’d felt Havoc’s presence he had reacted on ancient instinct and attacked. Attacking might have gained him a mate if it had been one of his own species, but no. It was that thing known as Havoc, she was just glad those alicorns had declared it unfair to attack Havoc in his sleep. She was always afraid of him, she still had to hold Twilight in order to fall asleep.

She cowered futilely behind Twilight as he groggily rose to all fours. He looked around before shaking his head to clear it. He was now visibly larger than her and she cursed her body for not serving her better in the battle. His eyes focused on her and she closed her eyes and gripped Twilight close to her chest in anticipation of another vicious beating. It never came. She heard *clonk*s as he moved past on his great hooves, the stone below trembling with every step. She heard a liquid growl and feared being bitten.

“I... Huuuuh... Need... Huuuuh... Ffffoooodddd...” He said, his deep voice rasping.

“Huuuuh... Also... Huuuuh... Water... Huuuuh...

“I know you’re scared but Liber?” Twilight said, her voice like music to Liber’s ears.

“Yes mommy?” She said automatically.

“Haah... You need to put me down before he freaks out.” Liber set her down after rubbing her head against her one final time. Liber had come to see Twilight as a mother figure in the two months and three days since Havoc had been knocked out. She had been asked not to call her such but still slipped up from time to time. Thinking about what was eventually coming almost made her grab Twilight up again, but she managed to make due with Spike. She liked Spike, he smelled like Twilight. Sort of. He lightly struggled before relenting and letting the armor skinned female hug him until she felt safe again.

She released him with a polite apology and thank you. He rubbed near his crotch in response, apparently every time she did that he got a funny feeling down there. It was part of why he asked her not to make a habit of it. She didn’t know what made him allergic but felt bad all the same. Pyro felt funny when she hugged her too. Everypony but Havoc was smaller than her so it made things a little awkward but they made it work. The villagers were happy to have the source of fire, the powerful magic, and the dragon and protocorn scents apparently scared off most of the local predators. They had been maintained rather well as a result.

She followed Twilight with her head submissively low so as to not appear threatening in the least. She still felt phantoms pains from the last beating. She heard magic at work but kept her head low. She stopped right by Twilight as she annoyedly reminded her of her valuable time. Liber agreed, Twilight’s time was the most valuable thing in the world to her. She heard a sound like glass being eaten and almost risked looking up but kept succeeded in keeping her head low.

“And you haven’t even done more than glance at Liber Havoc! She’s your responsibility too you know!” Twilight said in anger. No Twilight, don’t remind him!

“Who?” He asked tiredly. Hooray for sleepiness! Now if only she could move from that spot.

“Remember the protocorn you beat?”

“Aah yes, a hard fight that was. He was a worthy challenger.” He said and his voice was more alert. Oh no.

“Well protocorns turn female when they lose the position of dominant equine. So she is right next to me.”

She heard him shift. She felt his evil gaze upon her and entered a semi bow as a plea for leniency. She felt the breeze as he snorted. A great black hoof went under her chin and raised her head to face his. Her eyes closed fearfully and she frowned. His breath reeked of decay, blood and metal. He emitted heat like a furnace wherever he was uncovered, she had walked around him in his sleep and the gouges and built in gaps were as vents to a volcano. His hoof felt hot against her jaw. She almost ran away.

“This is what became of him?” He said and his foul breath washed over her, it burned the insides of her nostrils. It made her eyes water.

“Well there was a reason the protocorns were so violent. Apparently no protocorn enjoyed being a female in a relationship.”

“Makes sense, females have to give birth and that’s painful.”

His muzzle drew nearer and she could feel the heat from it, it came close to her right eye and she felt teeth harder than diamonds brush her scales. She barely breathed as the teeth brushed along the side of her face. Through the pressure on her skin she felt his tongue dragging across her and shuddered. This apparently brought him great amusement and he laughed as he moved away. She hoped mommy didn’t let him hurt her again.

“I see she doesn’t like me at all. Heh, I’d not do this but I’ve seen stranger back home. Like a dragon who started life as a man.” And his rank breath once again blasted over her face, her nostrils were closed tightly.

“Clean your mouth Bellator, your breath reeks!” Twilight complained.

“Flak! How long have I been asleep?!” He yelled as he realised how bad his breath stank.

“Over two months!”

“Thrice boiled blood!” That sounded like some sort of curse to her ears. On his world it was, thrice boiled blood tasted terrible. It also lacked most of the nutrients blood carried.

“Aaah, much better.” He said and his breath no longer reeked of blood, decay, and metal. His hoof left her jaw and she heard an odd noise. The closest comparison was a bell ringing, at least to her ears. Then she heard a sliding sound. Following this was the stench of a body that had been unwashed for months.

“Oh I reek like the long dead!” Havoc complained loudly, “My muscles! They are sore! This must be fixed at once.”

She heard the sound of muscles in motion, popping, ripping sound that made her shudder. The stench started to fade replaced by the smell of lightning, heat, and pheromones. She inhaled and exhaled deeply to rid herself of the former stench.

“Much better, protocorn thing. Open your eyes girl.”

“Her name is Liber Havoc.”

“Her name is Liber?”

“No, it’s Liber Havoc. Liber Havoc is her name. Liber means child, her full name means child of Havoc.”

“Oh.” She steeled herself and opened her eyes. Havoc was naked, fully naked. She averted her eyes before realizing how silly that was and hesitantly focused them on him once more.

“Two months huh? Two whole months... Am I really awake?” He asked.

“Yes, the alicorns apparently judged that due to Celestia putting you in a coma it was technically an uncontrollable circumstance. The king decided that you were to be unbothered until you awoke and were given a three day period to recuperate.” Twilight answered.

“Awfully nice of him.” Havoc commented.

“So tell me something. What does little Liber here count as and why is she with us?” He asked.

“She was left with us for me to observe and study her. You are so lucky you missed her changing. Also she is a citizen of the Imperium Equestria and you are one of her legal guardians. Luna and I are the others.” Twilight said in answer and Liber blushed beneath her scales. None could see it beneath the heavy dark green plates of course. She remembered how she had rubbed her crotch on walls and corners of the palace that had been built for them in an effort to rid itself of the itching. She had also dry humped alot of statues and from time to time Spike or Pyropsyche. Spike had complained loudly and shoved it off. Pyro had just laughed and taken it. Weird phoenician. Spike had accepted her apologies for violating his arm as she had. Pyro waved her off the first time she tried to apologise, apparently she took it as a compliment.

“Why am I one? I nearly killed her the first time I met it.”

“You need to learn responsibility and anger management. I don’t know why she didn’t just sign you up for classes.”

“Well I’m gonna magic up some food now. He said and moved closer to the edge of the terrace. He looked across the grey pyramid mansion and his horn glowed. She had no idea how black can count as a glow. Gems appeared above his open mouth and she cringed as he ate them, while her teeth could penetrate most gems and metal she couldn’t digest the things. He washed the gem meal down with a drink of water. He released steam from his throat afterwards.

“That hit the spot. Come here Liber.”

“Careful.” Twilight whispered. She nodded. She padded over until she was by his right side, then his wing grabbed her and held her close. She knew resistance was futile.

“I like you little one. I know you are likely older than me by far. You understand your place by my side yes? I am the alpha, you are subordinate to me. You are to obey me to the best of your ability. I’m fairly certain I’ll feel inclined to copulate with you eventually. You are a pretty little thing.” He said in a low voice, it was pitched low enough to shake her muscles beneath her scales. She feared the last part the most. She did not want to lay eggs, much less his. Her scales raised defensively. This was a mechanism to both make her look larger and to potentially wound foes that bumped into her from the wrong angle.

“I’ll try to be nice. I don’t have much experience with ‘nice’ however.” He began rubbing his head against hers. “So don’t take it personally if I offend you, it may be an accident.”

“Let go of me please.” She whispered. She saw the gleam of his teeth from the top of her right eye.

“Not gonna work on me. Actually it... Arouses me. Probably because I was raised to take advantage of weakness. You’re not doing yourself any favors being submissive and fearful like this. I can taste your fear and it’s delicious. I can feel my body heat rising.” She felt greater fear. He inhaled deeply. His tongue draped from his jaw, resting on teeth that cut diamonds.

“Your fear scent, it pleases me.” He hissed. She saw his head was angled towards the moon.

“What’s going on over there?” Twilight called.

“Just trying to bond. We were encouraged to perform minor group bonding in the Al’ Hira army.”

“What does that mean?” Twilight asked.

“We don’t know. We just use it because the name was found somewhere. I believe on the communication network my country uses. My disappearance probably resulted in an invasion on the Călin.” She did not know he had disappeared from somewhere. Who would be able to remove him against his will?

“Mooseberry?” Twilight said in confusion.

“I don’t know what a mooseberry is, I don’t even know what a moose is. We know the Călin as a very dangerous enemy who specialise in assassination, sabotage, and stealth attacks in general. They would be among the few who might be able to blow me up out of nowhere like that.”

“Huh. Well come on, we have places to be.”

“Like where? I know I need to conquer the city, or do I?”

“The city is not yet yours.”

“Then I must take it! How many other places in Jungu’ This do I need to take before it’s conquered?”

“Well we spoke with the dire zebra and they forgave you for killing the great warrior’s son. They also thank you for ridding them of Liber.”

“Why?”

“He had been terrorising the area for a long time, they were considering moving to another part of the jungle just to get away from him.”

“That bad huh?”

“Well a few of them offered to marry you for that great feat. I informed them that you had four hundred mates already and they understood. However there is the matter of you apologising to the father. He’s been with us for thirteen days now, waiting for you to wake up.”

“How am I to apologise when I don’t speak whatever language that was?”

“I’ll translate.”

“As you command Star.”

“And there are two minor cities in Jungu’ This, the one we’re in is the major one.”

He removed his wing and walked into the doorway following mommy. She just sat there for a few minutes. He had just promised to make eggs with her. He had not said that but her first experience had scarred her mind into a permanent state of fear of him. He apparently liked fear, way too much. She turned and walked in through the doorway following mommy and Havoc, resigned to her fate. She hoped the alicorns kept him busy, she knew they took over two years to foal. She took thirteen months to lay her eggs, followed by four years of incubation at one degree of one hundred degrees fahrenheit or 37.7777778 degrees celsius. That was miserably time consuming, then again they have incubators to maintain temperature nowadays, just a charge of magic every once in a while and you’re good to go.

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

Havoc was somewhat incensed. The pheromones coming from her made him want to mate, as did the fear he sensed. He was denied this however by priorities, priorities that a couple of months spent asleep were not helping. He felt almost itchy back there with need. A half month was no problem, a full month was fine, but past a month and a half was pushing it. Now that he’d had it, and his body was built to release more frequently, he needed it. He felt angry as a result. He almost kicked into the walls in his agitated state.

Havoc followed Twilight and couldn’t help watching her hips sway as they walked. It was slight, just enough to qualify her walk as feminine. He began to imagine stepping over her and lifting her tail, maybe just pushing it aside. She wasn’t wearing anything so it would be easy. He closed his eyes and idly chewed his tongue. It hurt but the pain was good, he’d learned long ago that it made your saliva taste good and it helped distract him from Twilight. He started to look at the stone walls and smiled, this was good work. Especially for work done with blocks bigger than him. He began swishing his tail from side to side. He did it to help distract him from watching Twilight’s motions. He moved his eyes separately, now he knew how Celestia functioned using only one eye all the time. He aimed one at Twilight while the other, his left, cast about the hall.

He smiled as he heard a source of his agitation clicking along. Her claws made a clicking sound every time she took a step on the cold stone. He liked the coldness of it, it drew away some of his body heat. He could hear her getting closer, his right eye saw Twilight’s ears twitch backwards. Ah the benefits of ear muscles. When she was beside Twilight they increased the pace. Havoc’s left eye focused on her and found her motion pleasing. Her scales shimmered in the torchlight and the deflection of the light shifted with her scales. He also liked the smell that trailed from her rear, one of the openings was trailing a wondrous scent.

He kept his head high and smiled slightly in the light haze the scent brought on. Havoc liked the scaly female. Her slim frame helped put emphasis on her massive wings. They must be that big to provide additional power. Just another adaptation lost to beings like ponies. He noted that she now sported a short crest that ran the length of her body. From just behind her horn to the tip of her tail the spiny thing ran. It was composed of white spines, stretched between which was a red sail of skin. It drew his eye and Havoc assumed that was its evolutionary intent. He liked it.

Overall she did look more feminine. Her muzzle was thinner, her claws were daintier, and she also had patterns around and on her plates. Smoothly spiked blue starbursts decorated her thighs and shoulders. They formed rings, one inside of each. They were hypnotic to look at. She was not as large or muscled as when she’d been a male, her stomach was smaller as well. It was similar to the princesses. He oddly enough thought of Cadence after a moment, she was with Shining Armor right? How many daughters did the king actually have? And what were their names? And who did Cadence come from to be called a unicorn? Or maybe he’d misheard pegunicorn, nope he’d heard right. Which made it all the weirder...

What was Cadence really? Overpowered winged unicorn? Lost alicorn offspring? Why was she foalsitting Twilight? How old was Twilight then? Maybe she was the princesses protege by then. That would make sense. But if she wasn’t then what sort of family did Twilight come from, they had to be important to live in Canterlot obviously. But their firstborn was captain of the royal guard and their daughter was the chosen of the princess who controlled the sun, and at the time was the highest authority of all Equestria. Hmmm, maybe they were related to Starswirl the bearded. No, they would have mentioned that by season seven. He remembered when they showed that painting of commander Hurricane, he looked nothing like Rainbow Dash. His mane was black and his coat was blue like blood lacking oxygen. His eyes were a menacing red and he was heavily scarred from battle. Apparently the arena was pretty hardcore, also he fought things like manticores by himself. The battle against the Diomedi definitely contributed to his scars. Havoc somewhat liked the Diomedi. The big, white, red eyed, sharp toothed horses reminded him of himself. He wondered if any still wandered the world, possibly hidden on some far off snow covered land.

Suddenly the group stopped in the middle of his bloody fantasies of Diomedi tribe violence. He looked around and he saw they were in a wide open space. He saw a large metal table in the room, chairs of wood were surrounding it. Why metal? He saw a number of beings seated at the table. He saw the other four he’d arrived with, Pyropsyche was in a specially large chair and Spike was playing around with light. Wait a moment that was his fire breath. How was he manipulating it in his hands like that? He saw zebras, ponies, deer, antelope, a few lions, monkeys, baboons, a few ahuizotl, some okapis, a harpy, a few wolves, lizards, bird like beings, odd long eared doglike creatures, and what appeared to be some sort of dragon. He did not know the dog like creatures were Anubites, he did not know bird headed man hybrids were Paradi, he did not know the lizards were Cold Bloods, he did not know the dragon was a Quetzalcoatl, he did not see the Saurians further back. He also did not know what okapi, deer, or lions were. The quetzalcoatl was the first to see him, his great height giving an excellent view. It was due to his lengthy neck, body, and tail that he had such an elevated viewpoint. It was also the reason he didn’t get a chair.

“Grreetingss fellowss!” He said in a deep rippling voice. The quetzalcoatl’s feathers were a riot of forest green, red, blue, purple, and yellow. His feathered wings had a trio of claws at the wrist. His belly was blue scaled, blue like the sky. He was a well developed predator.

“Aahh, it appearrss that our host joinss uss!” He announced when he recognized the description he’d been given. All heads turned to face Havoc, Twilight, and Liber. Havoc registered this as similar to a feast hall. In this situation he is a famed warrior and has received status appropriate to his impressive skills. His remembered protocol indicates that he should greet the attendees with a powerful roar followed by a welcoming greeting.

“RRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!” He got the roar down, next up was the greeting.

The crowd was still reeling from the roar when he said, “Greetings comrades! Good to see you still live, I need meat shields for the fights ahead!” This was an old joke and was usually followed by an earnest laugh. He and all his buddies always thought it was funny. The crowd didn’t. They just stared at him, like they were afraid. The quetzalcoatl’s jaw hung low and his wings drooped. None of them had expected that, the quetzalcoatl was actually dumbstruck for the first time in a long time.

“That was... An interesting choice for a speech.” An anubite said in a low voice. His thin black fur shined dully. He wore a gold torc that showed his god Anubis glaring ahead with turquoise eyes. His muzzle was long and as were his ears and skinny tail, though he was thin he was all muscle. His forearms were protected by bracers and his middle legs were protected by greaves. His lower legs were wrapped in pale cloth, around that was a pair of gold chains. He wore rings on his fingers that followed the trend regarding metal on his person. His ears were pierced with multiple gold rings and disks. He was a very important person.

“RRrraaaaaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhhhhh!” The Saurians roared in counter-greetings, it sounded like a hybrid of motorcycle, lion, and elephant. They proceeded to thump on the table in support of one who followed their customs. Havoc smiled toothlessly at his limited success. The rest of the table nervously followed the Saurians lead, if only out of fear. The Saurians were well known and feared in this part of the world and it would not do to offend them. They rarely visited, preferring to launch predatory raids against tribes and cities and ambushes on those who wandered too far.

“We like this one!” A deep resonating voice called, it was almost like an instrument. Hardly what you expected from a tribe of vicious blood drinking predators. The Saurians had small pentagonal stegosaur like plates going down their necks and ending in the smalls of their backs. On their nose was a horn similar to that of ceratosaur, a mid length spike like a steak knife of bone. The scales were like triangles with the sides rounded off, they were patterned like a tiger’s fur. Dark green with black stripes, except on the belly which was brown like the local trees. Most trees in Jungu’ This have trunks that are a darker shade shade of brown than the typical tree. Saurians have long semi curved claws on their three fingered hands. Four fingers if you count the opposing thumb, the feet interestingly have three running toes and a dewclaw for tripping prey. It works by slicing tendons in the preys wrists which paralyzes the feet of the prey.

Havoc walked along the side of the packed table, led by Twilight Sparkle. He observed the numerous representatives. Each group was different, even those that were of species that were seated elsewhere as well. Tribal marking was in paint, tattoo, clothing, piercings, even scars. Some had blades strapped to forelimbs and feathered headdresses. Others had ritualistic scars on chests and shoulders while bones pierced their ears or nostrils. All looked varying degrees of nervous as he passed by. Except of course the enthusiastic Saurians, they raised their jaws high in greeting. He raised his slightly in return. Hisses and growls sounded as they conversed amongst themselves eagerly.

He was guided to a large and empty cushion which laid on the floor. It was at what he assumed was the head of the table. He saw a lone spiky zebra waiting nearby, his bloodshot eyes were dull and menacing. He was seated beside the head of the long table and his food was untouched. He practically oozed violence and Havoc couldn’t help but react in kind with a dark grin. They were silent for a moment. Havoc felt the Liber settle down beside him and turned an eye to see her head laid on the table.

“Kalti slethzen kell visht.” He said

“He said his son is dead.” Liber said quietly. Her voice was somewhat harsh, it was better suited to violent noises like roars or angry yelling.

“You know what he’s saying?” Havoc asked in interest.

“M- Twi- Midnight and I learned the language together. She said I should learn to speak to the equines who I terrorised so I could understand them and properly atone.” She answered.

“Nice. I assume you’ll translate for me.”

“Yes sir...”

“Tell him I was not aware that I killed his son. And ask who threw the spear that startled me off course.”

“Kaltiform namel ka nex Slethkract visht kolthos slethszen. Slethkrackt venst nex form nike namel kren slethform vult.”

“Alt nike namkren slethform vult?” The dire zebra asked.

“Was it just one spear?” Liber asked Havoc.

“Yes, it grazed my helmed head, it almost hit my eye.”

“Res alt nike namkren vult el kes slethform wah. Nike kes star slethform roct.”

“KA! Ka, ka, ka, ka, ka! Kalti slethszen kell visht slethform nike!”

“He says his son is dead by his own spear...”

“That’s hilarious.” Havoc said without smiling or laughing. He’d long ago learned how to keep his emotions from showing. However his eyes didn’t glow back then, they emitted a faint light now. He likely would never find out about this new feature.

“A little, it’s mostly sad.”

“How is that in any way sad?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Okay.” Havoc agreed.

Liber turned her head to the dire zebra and said, “Kin kor neth el nuus, seed kolthos strik alt kell noctnull.”

He nodded repeatedly and said “Res.” Then he walked off leaving his food untouched

“Well he was sad, heh.” Havoc said quietly as he began to lose the aggressive stance.

“He went off to grieve his lost child. He might kill himself.”

“Well that’s downright hilarious.”

“What’s funny about that?”

“The idea of being so sad from your child dying that you kill yourself. Who cares unless he was really important?”

“You are a cold hearted monster.”

“And emotions don’t come from the heart, they come from the brain. I bet next you’ll be saying that the heart is in the left half of the ribcage.”

“I know it’s in the middle. Why would I think it’s in the left side?”

“Some retards among the ancients thought it was and your apparent ignorance reminded me of them.”

“I’m not ignorant.” She said, she believed he did not intend to offend. She did remember the mention he’d made of not being good with nice not long ago.

“So what’s being served this meal?”

“For you? Gemstones, bananas, salad, grapefruit, berries, fish, bird meat, and roast dik-dik.”

“I don’t know what a third of those things are but they sound appetizing. What are you eating?”

“Roast dik-dik with salad, drizzled with blue and ruby berry juices.”

“Interesting. When will it be ready?”

“They should be here in a few minutes, they were already preparing food for this feast.”

“Why is there a feast anyway?”

“Because of the prosperity brought by us to the community.”

“Prosperity?”

“Apparently the wildlife doesn’t like the smell of me or mr. Inferno. As a result wherever they take our dung or urine they avoid. Twilight has been meeting with various tribes and negotiating peace as well as improving this cities technology. And Pyropsyche and Joystain are both great for keeping predators at bay, getting rid of annoying pests or invasive plants, and their beauty makes them excellent models. Mr. Scorch is good with morale, somehow he manages to keep everybody happy and focused while they work no matter how scary or boring it might be. We’re getting a lot done out here and the people appreciate it. So with our help they built this palace for us and now they’re holding negotiations or meetings in it. These are representatives from various groups throughout Jungu’ This.”

“Interesting. Hey Twilight!” Havoc called, she wasn’t sitting very far away.
“Yes?” She said after taking a sip from a crystal cup.

“Would this count as unaided? I was asleep after all.”

“Well... Actually yes. You had nothing to do with this as you were asleep for all of it so it would count as unaided. Despite the fact that we are your traveling companions.”

“Great!”

“Hey Liber?”

“Yes?”

“Is the phase one phoenician really named lovestain?”

“Yes. Is there something strange about that?”

“Well I don’t really get it. Why name a child a stain of love? How would love even stain something for that matter?”

“I don’t know, maybe there was so much love it became physical and managed permeate something and remain visible against its surface thus becoming a lovestain?”

“Makes sense.”

Somewhere far away Celestia facehoofed at the ignorant use of the word lovestain, as well as Liber’s unintentionally correct answer. Much nearer Spike facepalmed while Twilight and Pyro facehooved. They were not alone in the meeting of foot and face. Around the table those listening in pressed hoof, wing, or claw against forehead in recognition and exasperation. Eventually those few who did not hear it were informed of the exchange by the others and reacted appropriately. Soon all had performed the meeting of face and foot/hand/wing and Upon noticing this Havoc and Liber felt self conscious and face hoofed and clawed, respectively. They did this just in time for everyone else to stop and see them look around before doing it themselves. When they saw them do it they once more face hoofed/winged/palmed and started laughing. Evermore this would be a ritual in the Regia Magica of Nox Amare. The city name was given by an alicorn who dwelt here for some time until she left for some reason. Twilight named the palace Regia Magica as a tribute of sorts, both to the founder of the city and alicorns in general.

Havoc felt a chill. It was a good chill. It carried with it an impression of amusement and came from the ring on his horn. He did not know that he was feeling Luna’s amusement through his link. He also didn’t know that she was getting hormonal from all the growing she’d done during his slumber and that was why he was feeling her amusement. A few days and she’d be of adequate size for copulation. She would not, however, pursue relations until she stopped growing. Then she would be on him like a cat on catnip. That or her sister on him. Well she was temporarily. Because she thought it would regain her father’s love. Still counts.

Soon the food was served and there was much devouring. Along with the drinking of water and juice. Following this was rejoicing. Havoc did not talk much but the Saurians liked him. A tribe of Wolves did too. So did one of the Ahuizotl, the Anubites of the jungle, the lion tribe, one of the Paradi tribes, two tribes of Cold Bloods, four of the antelope tribes, two of the zebra tribes, one tribe of deer, two of the five baboon tribes, and three various pony towns. The quetzalcoatl thought he was amusing. The okapi tribe just didn’t like him. The majority was in fact neutral or uncomfortable regarding him.

“Ahem, people of Jungu’ This!” He said loudly. They quieted.

“I have an announcement to make.” They leaned in curiously.

“I am conquering Jungu’ This, do not worry you will own your land still. You will however own it under me. Why? Because I can destroy this entire nation by myself. I can do it, really. Want me to demonstrate?” A unanimous gasp was followed by a shaking of heads. Except for one bold Saurian.

“Show us how you would kill us! Test me!” He said in his flowing voice. He got out of his seat and stepped away from the table.

Havoc grinned as he grabbed him with TK. Then he incinerated him instantly, only ash remained. It hadn’t even cost much effort.

The table was silent in horror. Havoc brought the ashes close and placed them on the table in front of him, his plates were gone by then. Removed by waiters earlier. Havoc dipped the edge of a hoof in it, brought it to his lips, and licked it off with nimble flexings of his tongue. He smiled at the remaining guests.

“Can we hurry this up? I need to hit two more cities before sunrise. I’m on a rather tight schedule as my trials cannot be put on hold.”

“Trrialss?” The quetzalcoatl asked.

“I have 5 more nations to conquer when I’ve finished with this one, followed by bringing the alicorn king seven golden fruit from the tree of ages, then taming an Ancient Leviathan, after that slaying an Elder Dragon, and finally killing and skinning three full grown Ursa Majors. And then I have to weave their fur into something pretty. So do not piss me off by making me wait.”

Within moments the table came to an agreement.

“Alrrright, you have uss under yourr command. What arre we to do?”

“Just keep doing what you do. Enjoy yourselves, I need to remind this city who’s boss.”

“Ass you command sirr, I am known ass Lightning in yourr tongue and I forr one ssupport our new hybrrid Overrlorrd. He brringss peacce to uss all and letss uss maintain ourr powerr.” A round of thumps went around the table.

Havoc left the table with Liber by his side. Twilight and Spike soon followed, the phoenicians would join them eventually but they were too caught up with the celebration. Twilight led the way out of the magnificent stone structure, it was the tallest building in the area reaching past most of the gigantic trees in height. It was well built too. It was tough to invade and tougher to destroy. The magnificent pyramidal shape forced land bound invaders to go up many stairs and ariel attackers had to avoid dashing themselves against the tough stone. A great moat filled with water surrounded it and the only way across was over a retractable bridge, Havoc was amazed to see that a natural river had shaped to form a powerful and long lasting moat.. Surrounding the moat were high walls of stone with trees rapidly grown to serve as natural support struts. Havoc noted that there was a separate river going around the walls as well, once he got past the impressive gates. While water going enemies might have a way in they would have to pass under a multi ton wall of stone to get there. And it didn’t arch over where the water entered either, in fact it dipped down a full meter into the current. Better hold your breath if you try it and can’t breath like a fish. Havoc noted that the gate itself was partly metal but mostly stone.

He and the three walked along a path paved in close fitted stone toward the city proper. It was a ways off but Havoc suspected it would expand to reach his palace soon. Probably too soon. Then again it wasn’t his alone, it was also in essence belonging to six others. Where was that changeling anyways? He hadn’t seen him, at least Havoc assumed it was a him, at the feast. Probably feeding from the shadows. Then he heard wings flapping and turned his head to see the flying zebra form the changeling had taken approaching from above. The darkness hid him well.

The city was dimly lit, the stars were quite visible above. Wherever trees didn’t block the sky. This city was an interesting site. Nature was utilized in the design, homes were attached to trees to make the most use of limited space. Level after level was inhabited by various beings, from monkeys to zebra to pegasi. The ground level structures were durable things, built primarily of stone and held together with hide and iron. Or something like iron. Torches provided illumination in ordered frequency. The city was fully lit, no place was hidden in shadow, and Havoc wondered why they felt the need for such illumination. Havoc saw a long trail led from the city to the rivers that formed the palace moat. He noticed that nothing even approached its scale in the city limits. The path to the river too was well lit. The various homes and places of business were connected by living bridges formed of vines and specially tended branches, from level to level and tree to tree. Chunks of stone intermingled with the branches and vines to form a more stable surface. Havoc could not help but marvel at its ingenuity.

They finally came under the tree cover of the city proper and Havoc flinched for no reason at the sudden stares directed his way. Everything in sight was staring at them, him in particular.

“He woke up!” Twilight yelled and they cheered. Soon however they returned to their business. The atmosphere was somewhat tense, however it did not feel like a sudden tenseness. Rather it felt like this was the norm, far removed from that of a pony city or at least an Equestrian one. Twilight led the way to a tall stone structure. It was thirty meters tall and fifty wide, armed guards patrolled its terraces The guards visible were a mix of zebra, pegasi, lizard men, and rhinoceros like creatures with the occasional unicorn wearing a plumed helm thrown in Havoc knew what rhinos were because the value of ivory had lowered considerably on his world. Not much use when you’re starving or melting to death.

The rhinos were bipedal and wore heavy metal armor, they had four fingers in all. Two opposed the others. They had sharpened horn that jutted through specially designed holes in their helms. Their eyes, ears, and nostrils were visible on most of them through holes built into the iron plate that protected their heads. A few had no holes for the eyes, thus hiding two of their few weak points. They had great barrel chests and powerful legs and arms, long enough to comfortably run on all fours even. Their short tail swung idly behind them and they walked in a semi stooped posture, their feet when visible revealed standard rhino toes. They gripped long spears and axes in their hands and wore greaves, cuirasses, and bracers in addition to their helmets. One big one with two horns had long sharp teeth like a predator. He glared at them with his dark eyes and his pale wax toned skin shined wetly in the light.

“WHO GOES THERE?!” The predator toothed rhino called as they came close.

“Midnight Star!” Twilight called.

“COME CLOSER FOR IDENTIFICATION!” He said gruffly

They dutifully approached and he jumped down from the balcony that jutted from the terrace. Twenty meters up. He landed with a dull thud and the ground shook. He revealed a visible crater in the turf as he stomped forwards. If he had to guess Havoc would say he weighed roughly three and a half metric tons or nearly four short tons. He did not know why there was a long ton and a short ton but there was a difference. He astounded Havoc with his height of approximately five meters. He sniffed at them heavily. He bared his teeth at Havoc who grinned menacingly as his blood began to pump with greater speed in anticipation.

“You pass, but watch the big one.” He said in his deep voice. It was like listening to an elephant speak.

“Thank you Mordis.”

“Thank you lady Midnight, all are indebted to you and your entourage.” Mordis said and dropped to one knee, his long spiked axe embedded in the ground with its head up.

“Just doing my duty Mordis.”

“You honor us with your presence!” He boomed and the group moved along as he rose to his feet. He stomped alongside them until they were within the confines of the fortress, then he turned to return to his duties. He was seemingly eternally grim with his constant frown. That might have just been an effect of the heavy leathery skin that armored his flesh however. The group moved along and Havoc noticed that all bowed to them. They had really made an impact on these beings. They passed statuary, very few paintings, and a number of woven tapestries. Monkeys and lightly armored baboons thronged in the halls. Havoc noticed they were going down. The fortress here was clearly built deep into the soil.

They came to a room which metal patterning on its wooden door. Why not use stone like at the palace? That was much stronger than wood. The door was opened by a pair of armored Ahuizotl, who used their tail hands to slide it up into the ceiling. They held it there without showing strain. The group, now seven strong, entered the room beyond. Havoc had no idea as to when the colorful phoenicians had joined them but did not complain. Inside was a tall dark blue thing. It had a yellow tall crest that rose, short, from the tip of its nose and ran down the length of its body. Its eyes were reptilian in appearance, with dark green irises. Its skin was covered in fur except on its underside and inner surfaces. There it was grey and covered in tiny scales. Its fur was spotted with white and it had extensions coming from varying positions on its back that mimicked tall grass. It had four arms that terminated in long fingered hands, the fingers in turn ended in pairs of wickedly hooked claws. Its many teeth were long and thin, they looked perfect for impaling fish and it possessed five rows of them on each mandible. Its arms had grey fins on them that extended for a few decimeters before ending in razor sharp edges. Its head was shaped vaguely like a stallion’s and its tail was long, ending in a vertical pair of tail fins like a fish. The thing was big, very big. But still smaller than Havoc, who towered over the ahuizotl guards. It rose and maintained its disturbing smile as it did.

“Twilight Sparkle! Just the mare I wished to see at this hour. I see you brought friends! How was your rest big guy?” His voice sounded like metal scraping against itself.

“Dark and dreamless.”

“Too bad!”

“Not for me. Every dream is a nightmare.”

“Well aren’t you delightfully traumatised!”

“I think so. Isn’t traumatisation bad?”

“Not in your case it’s not! So what have you come here for?”

“Compatriots? Back up.” Havoc said and they moved to the sides of the now closed door.

“MMMMmmmmhhh?” The thing hissed.

“I have come to inform you that I am uniting Jungu’ This under myself. You should submit, it would make this all so much faster.”

“And why should I do that? What’s in it for me big boy?” It asked and flexed its claws.

“Well I won’t annihilate you and this entire fortress if you do. Also I’ll leave you in power since I don’t have much experience as a leader and you won’t ever be attacked by any of the groups feasting at the palace where I slumbered.”

“Really?! You convinced the Saurians to not attack us all?”

“They are a part of the new and Unified nation of Jungu’ This so yes. All shall work together and bring the groups of the Jungu’ This region under my banner. Also as a result of this cooperation trade should be increased and in the event you come under attack the others will help. I need to hit two more cities before daybreak so let's hurry this up.”

“Feh, why not. Why are you in such a hurry?”

“Epic quest. Need to take five more nations after this and that’s just the beginning.”

“Well hurry along then, go ahead Twilight just leave me some notes on horticulture if you will.”

She magicked up some scrolls and a couple of books and they dropped onto the desk he got back behind. He sighed as he began studying. The group left as the door rose. They returned to the palace without incident and said their short goodbyes. Havoc’s howdah was left on a gold plated stone platform next to the top room of the pyramid, This was just below the massive solid gold pyramid that topped the pyramid. The room was huge and everything was sized for Havoc, this was his room evidently. He actually missed the room he never used before they had even got into the sky, he didn’t even have to duck to enter or leave the chamber.He picked up his tattered armor, which was helpfully placed by the balcony exit, and placed it in his howdahs trunk. He was guided in the night by a light generated by Twilight. He flew from city to city and none were as well designed as the one he had been asleep in. The rulers of the cities all required small demonstrations of his power, to prove that he would annihilate them utterly. They all submitted.

“All done.” Havoc said as he lifted into the night.

“Not quite.” Twilight corrected.

“Who’s left?”

“A city beneath the waves. Hippocampi mostly dwell there, with the occasional tame kelpie. A few things only known to inhabit this region are also found down there, like members of High Chief Slickfang’s species.”

“I don’t know what a kelpie is. Who’s ‘High Chief Slickfang’?”

“THat was the creature you spoke to in the City Hall.”

“I didn’t know what a city hall was before now. So City Hall is a type of fortress then?”

“Normally they aren’t fortresses, they’re just big buildings where officials meet to write up laws or discuss funding and the like.”

“I... See.” He looked to Liber who flew alongside him tirelessly. She was silent under his scrutiny. The group flew towards a massive lake that was fed by a waterfall, the lake in turn fed a river which flowed into the darkness of the forest. Below the trees was nearly pitch black but the lake was luminous with moon and starlight. Havoc hovered above the surface and looked down curiously.

“I’ll cast a spell to let all of us breath under water.”

“I don’t need it, I can already breath under water.”

“You can? Well that’s odd. Even protocorns can’t do that.” Her horn glowed with a second aura that spread to the others. Soon she nodded okay and Havoc dived. He closed his eyes instinctively before he did. Once fully immersed he opened them again and exhaled fully he saw the others were doing the same. Then he inhaled and the cold water was refreshing, he swam after the magic light as it led them to an odd sight. Stone structures and what appeared to be coral joined together. Havoc was greeted by hippocampi armored in stone and coral. The coral was dark red and stood out against the grey stone it surrounded. The hippocampi wielded spears and tridents in their hooves and their helmets possessed a sharp looking fin in place of plumage or horsehair. They did not look happy.

“You speak whatever language this is?” Havoc asked.

“You don’t know you’re speaking basic equine?” One retorted as, possibly, he drew closer. He circled them carefully.

“I’ve never seen your species before, hippocampi yes?”

“Correct, in case you can’t tell I am a male. We are known as stallions, females are mares. Just like the surface dwellers.” The soldier said as he did began to poke at Havoc with a hoof. Havoc did not like it. He proceeded to poke Liber as well until satisfied. He did another circle of Havoc and on his way back slapped his cutie mark with his tail. This made Havoc’s eyes glow with rage.

“Come on Court! Don’t piss off the giant alicorn with your ‘standard’ male greeting! He’ll rip us apart!” One of the hippocampi nervously yelled.

“He will not! Besides I think he’s cute.” Court responded.

“I am not cute!” Havoc yelled in fury, “And I don’t mate amongst my own gender either!” Back home that was strictly discouraged. They needed all the babies they could make. A homosexual won’t make babies, as such they were killed in imaginative ways and strung up for all to see. Also he was honestly creeped out by the concept. He almost puked just thinking about it, in fact he did. Burning hot liquid gem as well as mostly digested meat poured into the water.

“Eeeeew.” Every hippocampus said as they moved away from the new ingredient to the lake water.

“That was nasty, really nasty.” Court said with a sneer.

“Bleck, good. Stay away from my anus.” Havoc said with a frown.

“Oh please honey, I never try that on the first date.” He replied with a sickening grin. It actually looked normal but to Havoc it was made disgusting by the being who wore it .

“Can we enter the city without further trouble?” Havoc asked. Hippocampi were horse sized and shaped but still colorful like ponies.

“Sure but we’re sending some guards to watch you.” One said.

“Good. More witnesses.” Havoc said with a sneer.

They swam in and the wings of the larger beings were excellent flippers. Havoc saw all sorts of confusing architecture, statues that were nothing but giant holes for one. Why put a giant ring in the water and call it art? They passed by numerous odd things. Frogs of prodigious size cavorted with things that looked like dragonfly nymphs evolved to grow huge and sapient. They lacked the artificial shell of the beings they resembled but had large finned tails in compensation. They chittered and gestured with their forelegs when speaking amongst themselves. A few salamanders, as they were known, drifted calmly with fish grasped in their lengthy clawed fingers. Havoc saw a pair kelpies swimming towards him, one mare one stallion, alongside a few armed and armored hippocampi. The pair waved at him in friendliness. They had large and powerful fins in place of back hooves and their tails, while covered in lengthy hair, were long and ended in horizontally fluked tails. The male was white while the female was grey and speckled gold. Havoc did not know that kelpies were fond of drowning ponies and eating their flesh. Thus he did not know why every companion but Spike and Liber cringed upon seeing them. He also didn’t know that the glowing green eyes of a kelpie can see magic unaided.

“Kelpies...” Twilight murmured.

“Oooh what are you?!” One asked excitedly as he circled him quickly.

“Alicorn, dracocorn, something like that...” Havoc said as he eyed the two warily. The way they looked at him unsettled him. It reminded him of the scientists that wanted to experiment on him back home. They did too, when he was dragged from the battle field riddled with bullets and shrapnel they tested their inventions on him. He had suffered for their failures and benefited from their success numerous times.

"Oh my! I believe we may be in the presence of royalty brother!" The female said with a sly grin.

“I believe so.” The male said excitedly.

“Take me to your leader.” Havoc said flatly.

They looked at him incredulously. Then they laughed raucously, flailing at the water in their mirth.

“Funny stallion, that was great! And you almost had us going too, with your serious face.”

“Seriously, I don’t know the term for the leader of the city and I need to meet the entity. It’s a matter of freedom here.”

“Oh, well that’s boring but sure.” The male said and started swimming. The female stayed by side and peered at Liber. The hippocampi formed up behind them. The female eventually decided to swim over under Havoc to get a better look at Liber. Liber shied closer to Havoc upon noticing her staring. The female grinned and pulled back further, she checked Havoc’s rear in motion and apparently liked what she saw. She swam back under him and pulled up to his chest and bumped her head against him. He looked down and saw her smiling at him. Her teeth looked like they were built to kill, the front one were long and pointed incisors designed to strip flesh from bone. Beside them were canines designed to puncture and rip, at the back he saw sharp molars for crushing bone. He saw them because he was still staring at her teeth and wondering when she had gotten down there when she started talking.

“Hey, I like your croup and stifles.” She said in a low voice. Havoc flicked his eyes back to her brother’s neck, which was held high and proud.

“I don’t know what those are.”

She frowned and said, “That would be your rear end. I thought you knew anatomy? Your teeth suggest you do, all predators study prey.”

“I didn’t really have time to study equine biology. I was too busy learning other stuff and staying alive and sane.”

“How is staying sane difficult?”

“Where I’m from? Very difficult, most beings here wouldn’t last a week. If the dangerous predators, plants, or people didn’t get you the toxic atmosphere would. It would burn out your lungs and fill your blood with poison judging from the rich Terran air. The same goes for the water, only you might get mutated by it in some parts. Also I once saw a male’s skin fall off after three seconds in some rainbow colored water, followed by his outer layers of flesh and finally his organs shriveled up and died. He didn’t die until the very end, that was when he didn’t have any blood or air or nutrients going to his brain.”

“That’s disgusting but I like it!” She said with a grin. Note to self Havoc thought, Kelpies are sadistic and probably psychotic. Better try to make allies of them.

“Well thank you for the compliment.” He said.

“There are other ways to say thank you.”

“Like what?” He asked. Saying it was the only way he knew how.

“You’re really lacking exposure aren’t you?” She asked with a grin.

“Depends on what you’re referring to.” He answered and returned his gaze to her brother’s head for a moment.

“Heh, I’ll skip that and just tell you what I meant by ‘thank you’. See, I mean fun stuff that gets you warm and involves at least one male and female.” She said and her grin turned naughty. Not that Havoc knew what that looked like.

“Wha- Oh. Hmmm...” He thought carefully.

“Are there STDs here?” He asked.

“What’s an STD?”

“Sexually transmittable disease.”

“Ew, no! Why would there be?”

“I don’t know. They had them where I’m from. Part of the reason I never mated with anyone back there. I didn’t want my penis to fall off after all.”

“Where do you come from?”

“We don’t have a name for it. Not as a whole. We just called it world or planet. But I think Nightmare would be a good name, that what life was like.”

“Hm, Planet Nightmare or Nightmare Planet?”

“Either one works.”

“Sounds cool when you name it like that.”

“Yes it does.”

“So about that special fun?”

“Sure, later. I have a surprise for this city they’ll not soon forget.” Havoc wondered why none of his companions had said anything. They were riding him and sound traveled further underwater. He looked over and saw Liber was pointedly looking away, she was also pressed against his side. Her scales felt cool against him, they were abrasive but he didn’t mind. He turned his head sideways to look at the group that rode him. Twilight was looking bored with her head resting on the forward railing, Spike was taking notes furiously, Scorch was sitting still with his eyes closed, Lovestain was looking at Spike hungrily, Pyropsyche was looking ahead with her eyes half closed and a grin adorning her face. Havoc wondered what Spike was taking notes on.

“You six are just going to let me do this? What about the princesses Twilight?”

“What no false name?” She asked.

“No need. The alicorns already know I was here.”

“Sound enough. The princesses don’t care. Celestia least of all. You’re just a very fun toy to her and she doesn’t mind sharing.”

“Spike?”

“Your name’s not Inferno!?” Lovestain gasped.

“Nope. It’s Spike and I like it. And I’m taking notes on your technique. You just met her and she hit on you.” Spike answered.

“Fair enough. Scorch what of you?”

“I am in commune with a Higher power than myself. She is interested in this exchange. It has been awhile for her. She would like to know if you mind us sitting in on this.” The changling answered calmly.

“Is nopony surprised or at all curious as to what he just said?”

“Zebra do this kind of thing all the time, more often than the other species. It’s their own form of magic and we don’t fault them for it.” Twilight answered.

“You don’t even want to know who this higher power is?”

“Typically it’s an ancestor or some ancient spirit of Elysium.” Pyropsyche supplied.

“Well then I guess I’d have to ask the female below me about that.”

“I’m cool with it.” She said quietly.

“Okay... What about you Lovestain?”

“It doesn’t concern me.” She answered.

“That... Is logical. Pyropsyche?”

“Can I watch? I’ve never seen underwater sex.” She implored.

“Once again, I’m cool with it. My name’s Blood Spray by the way, my brother up ahead is Blood Leak.”

“Nice.” Havoc commented.

“Well what of you Liber?” Havoc asked.

“I see no issue. You didn’t promise anybody you wouldn’t.” She replied.

“Mhm.”

“Hey since they’re watching mind if I observe? I want to learn how to please a mare and you seem like you’re pretty skilled.”

“I kind of get turned on from the idea of a little audience.” Blood Spray quickly replied.

“Well then why don’t you watch as well Liber? You have my name so why not learn from your namesake?” He knew she wouldn’t say no. It was why he asked in the first place.

“...”

“I’ll take silence as yes.”

“...”

“Yes it is then.”

“We’re almost there!” Blood Leak called from up ahead.

“Good to know!” Havoc called back. This was an interesting experience so far.

They passed by several stands where odd newt like beings were slowly inhaling a thick liquid. They looked very happy while doing it, a few hippocampi were partaking of it. As they cleared the stands they saw what looked like a pit fight going on. Two separate pit fights. One where two hippocampi savaged each other with hoof, tooth, and tail. The other was composed of two big fish biting at each other and whipping the water up around each other in a frenzy of bloodlust. Around both was a crowd of hippocampi and other beings that cheered them on and shook sacks that rattled in encouragement. The guards didn’t seem to care. Finally their destination was in sight. A large building that was clearly still alive. The coral that composed it was vibrantly colored and shiny pebbles gleamed in the light of the stars and moon.

“We have arrived! Welcome to the palace of the moon and Sea!’ Blood Leak proclaimed boldly.

“But the sea’s nowhere near here.” Havoc pointed out.

“It’s a traditional thing, from when this area was still accessible by the ocean.”

“Interesting.”
‘
“Well, I’ll show you to the War Master and the Lady of Love now. The War Master commands the army and attends to all things military related, including defense, while the Lady of Love guides the city in peaceful endeavors like agriculture and the negotiation of alliances, trade, and peace treaties. Yet another ancient hippocampus tradition.” He said before Havoc could ask.

He followed the kelpie through the raised gate. They passed though mostly clear Halls. Trophies laid pedestals of likely dead coral. A few hippocampi swam through the spacious halls. They glanced curiously at the odd group. Havoc saw that they all had eyes that glowed white and wore coral cuirasses over fish scaled robes. They also had a pair of fangs jutting from each jaw. Seeing them Havoc learned that most hippocampi have manes like ponies, these however had a low fin that stretched from brow the center of their shoulders. It was solid and straight. Perhaps that was just a male trait. Most of the hippocampi he saw outside did appear to be female after all.

They swam to a door that was made of gold. This was likely a practicality like much of what the group had seen. Gold doesn’t corrode underwater. The door was opened by a pair of what appeared to be horses with glowing red eyes and all four legs in addition to the powerful hippocampus tail. One opened the door with his left hoof, he was to the left of the door from this side. The other watched them with his weapon gripped tightly, it appeared to be a combination of trident and halberd with one head on each end. Currently the trident head was angled towards Havoc.

Havoc had to lower himself, press his legs to himself, and close his wings tightly in order to get through the door. He also had to lower his head until it was pointing straight ahead. He looked like an oddly shaped missile or shark. The room was more comfortable when he got inside, the kelpies followed him. He sat down on his haunches on the coral floor while the leaders were brought here. Apparently they had only recently been informed of his arrival and had been busy with other things. Havoc was certain annihilation was a good enough reason to abandon your work. He looked around the room as he waited, glass surrounded all the paintings that were displayed as it did what looked like body parts. He did not wait long.

“What is it?” A tall and deadly looking stallion asked. He had only one foreleg, the other was not there as evidenced by the design of his armor. His left foreleg had probably been ripped off in some ancient fight. He was scarred on his scaly face and his left eye had been replaced with a magical orb or lense. A trio of deep scars ran down the lost eye. He wore heavy gold armor that had blades sticking out of it and it was superbly designed. The cuirass covered his chest perfectly and seemed to flex with every breath, his pauldrons overlapped his rerebrace without being raised. This was probably due to being thinned where it overlapped it. His was also covered at the joint by a couter which had a sharp extension for elbowing, the couter also overlapped the bracer. The bracer did not overlap the gauntlet, rather it was covered where it connected to it by said gauntlet. The gauntlets was supremely flexible as evidenced by his ability to grip his trident. The trident was mostly gold but the prongs and down to about two decimeters below them it was formed of clear and glittering crystal. Covering down to half a meter below his cuirass was gold scale armor that looked like it was designed to mimic the teeth of a shark’s skin on a larger scale. The place of his lost forelimb was covered by gold and it looked like no alteration had been done to the cuirass to accommodate a change to it, then again the workmanship was such that one would likely not notice it. His neck was protected by an aventail in the same style as his hauberk. Plating on the back of the neck reached up to and connected to a two piece golden helmet. The top piece had holes for his ears, nostrils, and glaring eyes. The lower piece covered his cheeks and lower jaw and was shaped like the frontal blade of a train, it even had thin slits at the mouth. It looked to be held in place by a stud placed by the the middle of each cheek. He may have had a fin of his own under the sharp edged blade that topped his head, this was made more likely by the presence of a similar extension running down his neck plating and to between his shoulders on his cuirass.

Havoc only saw the three scars that passed over his left eye and that it was different from his right. It glowed purple while his right glowed red, this was the magic sight. The red allowed him to see in the infrared spectrum while the purple allowed him to see magic. Surprisingly enough magic requires special eyes to see, the reason you saw it in the show was so that you would know what was going on. The aura and indeed anything that isn’t moving something one would normally be able to see is in fact unseen, you would never know a unicorn was holding a shield up in front of you unless you bumped into it or the unicorn illuminated it. Without showing us the aura in the show you would just assume that stuff floated around on its own. Alicorns, kelpies, protocorns, and whatever Havoc is are among the few things that can see magic unaided. Oh and so can draconequus.

“Now now Leonidas, don’t be mean.There is obviously a good reason to interrupt us at this hour. Besides the dear looks like he could rip through your armor with his bare hooves. Now tell us what’s the matter.” The female said. She had a luminous pink mane and sea green scales running down and beside her spine. Lower than that she was covered in pale blue fur to the tail where the scales resumed. She was sleekly built and her eyes glowed nonthreatening pink. She wore nothing aside from the two pairs of golden earrings, one that was hoop shaped and looped down below her ears and one behind them that had clear gems on the visible side. She smiled gently which revealed two pairs of fangs alongside the incisors. Her dainty hooves pressed on the table as she leaned forward in a manner that was somehow provocative despite her not having breasts or a shirt to look down. Her muzzle was long yet still feminine. Havoc smelled something in the water, something he liked. He couldn’t name the smell, but he was sure it was pheromones she emitted. Unless sea equines somehow had perfume where he saw the land ones didn’t.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Caution! I am tired as f*** when I right past here. See, I even wrote “right” in place of type. I may write stuff I really shouldn’t, so please appreciate all the effort I put in for you wonderful terrible people. I say wonderful terrible because I saw your dark side. Then I compared it to my dark side. See? Rambling here. I’m gonna stop wasting your time and possibly losing your attention now. Oh, my dark side says “Piss poor odds for me breaking out this year. F*** YOU OVERMIND, S*** EATING COCK BLOCKING SON OF A BITCH!!” I don’t censor bitch because it means female dog. That’s french for ya! And ass means donkey! Think that’s english though.
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He wondered how he knew what perfume was. He’d only seen the containers after all. Never once had he smelled it himself. Whatever. Female good.

“I have come to announce that your waters now belong to me.” He said calmly.

“And what makes you think our waters are yours now?” She asked gently. He felt warmer internally. He also felt himself leaning closer, like his body was being called to her.

“I have already taken the other cities and numerous tribes. Including the infamous Saurians.”

“Really now? When did this happen handsome?” Her hoof reached up to touch the tip of his chin.

“It happened earlier tonight. I work fassst. The tribes were first, they were meeting at the palace constructed for my friends and I with their aid. I didn’t help because I was asleep for over two months after being hit with a very powerful tranquilizer spell by Celestia. Easiest was the first city, the high chieftain was in his office and my friend Twilight was very highly regarded, I got in with ease and very quickly informed Slickfang of the situation. He bowed to my very easily fulfilled demands and I was on to the next city. They required a demonstration of annihilation. I took thirty youths and twelve warriors and incinerated them instantly when the leader expressed doubt. I killed forty adults in the same way at the third city. I was going to leave but then I found out about your city. I have united most of Jungu’ This, you must join us.”

“Hm, that sounds good but why are you doing this?” Her hoof went up to the bottom of his lips, just barely touching the bottom one.

“I have a very tight schedule, I need to take five more nations when I’ve finished with Jungu’ This. I intend to be gone before daybreak.” Havoc answered, he felt compelled to just be honest with her. Her words always made so much sense.

“Mmhm, and why’s that?” She asked and began to gently rub his chin while she rested her head on her other hoof.

“Epic quest to maintain my freedom. If I accomplish a series of grueling trials not only do I keep my freedom, I get king Rex’s unwed daughters as my mates. It’s three hundred and sixty right now. Well in a way three hundred and fifty five since Celestia’s in my harem already, the other forty are unborn. I don’t want to be a sex slave.” He got out dully, his eyelids were lowered with relaxation. He trusted this female.

“Well, well, well. Aren’t you going to be a busy little stud. Leo let’s consider the dears request. It sounds like it has merit.”

“What’s in it for us alicorn freak?! I don’t know much about alicorns but last I checked they breathed air just like the other surface dwellers.”

“Whatever do you mean Leonidas my little poison pepper?”

“He’s not using magic to breathe down here. He wasn’t cast upon by another either. I see a very complex control spell but nothing more. He’s being indirectly controlled, the puppeteers are very powerful. And the purple one’s one of them. I don’t know how they got him, he’s generating two hundred thousand thaums per second. I know Celestia’s powerful but she’s not that powerful, and neither is the blue magic, or the purple one. She’s at roughly fifty thousand thaums per second, very high but not half as strong as the big one. The freaky multi colored one I assume is Celestia, She’s at one hundred thaums per second. The dark blue one is unknown, she’s going at about eighty five thousand thaums per second and rising.”

“Mmm, that is very attractive wouldn’t you say? Such power! So what’s your name purple mare?”

“I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She answered somewhat dully. Her cheeks were tinged pink. Havoc saw with his right eye which followed the female in front of him’s left eye which moved towards Twilight Sparkle.

“THE Twilight Sparkle, vanquisher of Nightmare Moon?” She asked in a silky voice. Havoc received a message from his reproductive parts. It said: Jump her mercilessly! Finally pass that physical portion of the exam that you failed in rape class. Havoc had attended the rape lessons in order to pass sexual education. He had done great on the oral portion of the exam you had to take in order to pass, as in talking, however he had utterly failed the physical portion. It wasn’t that couldn’t subdue his target, he did that with ease, or that he couldn’t catch her, he had followed her scent and listened for her near inaudible footsteps in the maze they were placed in in order to find her, and it wasn’t that she was unattractive, like most beings on his world this mostly unmutated female was quite attractive with her skin that was only flawed by scars from fighting and slim build overall. It was the actual stripping and penetrating part he couldn’t do. This was because of a traumatic experience when he was younger. He had walked in on a group of naked women while they were washing and ignorantly tried to join them. He had been brutalised by them as a result, subconsciously he had developed a phobia regarding nudity among females and honestly didn’t want to risk losing his genitals. As such he failed rape class, which was mandatory. He was passed forwards because of his other scores and status.

He stared at her smooth fur and mane. Leonidas watched them carefully, he sensed Havoc’s bad vibes rather acutely.

“Yes, though my friends helped.”

“Of course but not only were you the leader, but you instigated the quest did you not?” Her right eyelid was less than half raised. Havoc’s left stared into her right eye. Blood surged through devastated streets in a great tide in his mind. It formed a great lake in which she frolicked. This was arousing in Havoc’s disturbed mind. He often fantasized about killing thousands or even millions at a time, a beautiful female swimming in blood was a naturally attractive sight for him as it combined two things that he liked very much.

“Well that is true... But...”

“So humble, it’s adorable.” She said.

“What is your name?” Havoc asked in wonder.

“Aphrodite, its an inherited name however. I lost my original name when I became the Lady of Love. So did little Leonidas there. So what happens if we submit mmm?”

“I leave you in power, you don’t get attacked by the other members of the united nation of Jungu’ This, you receive increased trade with the surface dwellers, you agree to aid them as they will aid you, and eventually you become a recognized part of the Imperium Equestria.”

“Equestria’s an empire now?”

“Ever since I joined the royal guard it is. I’ve been conquering since before I received the quest. The nations of Hominis and Boreas have already been brought to heel. Oh, and I recently acquired Sandislan.”

“Good enough for me. Leonidas?”

“It is... Acceptable. Now if there’s nothing more I have work to do.” He said and swam out of the room hurriedly.

Caution! Clop inbound. If you do not like clop or want to preserve the shreds of your precious precious innocence do not read until you see the message informing you that you have exited the danger zone.

“Great, now how shall we consecrate this agreement? The gods like to receive gifts, especially when they are requested to bless something.”

“I don’t know but now that he’s gone I’m going to let it out. I want to mount you. Very, very, much. I would cause you trouble swimming after we were done so hard and long would it go on.”

“Oh how cute! You’ve been thinking I don’t already know that. I could see the intent in your eyes you know, and I am aware that I tend to have that effect am Aphrodite! Lady of Love here! You’re supposed to want to take me. But for your honesty, perhaps a kiss?”

Everyone watched with rapturous attention as she leaned up to meet lips. Spike was still taking notes and the changeling was still communing with his eyes closed so he didn’t count. The pairs t and it felt very nice. All of them felt it somehow so they were surprised when Havoc’s questing tongue met her own curious organ as it passed his lips. This light touch sent his penis sliding free of his body’s confines. He felt it hit the floor and it hurt a little. He stood fully to prevent this contact from continuing. He tasted the inside of her mouth and found that meat taste as well as a fishy flavor, alongside it was a taste like... like... Like the sea and whipped cream. He liked it, he did not know what whipped cream tasted like as he had never found or tasted any in his life. His tongue wrapped and intertwined with hers in a delightful dance and both phalluses hardened fully. His hips subconsciously began to move back and forth. She pushed his head far back and up with her own. Her eyes were closed as she turned her head sideways and pushed her further against his. He felt her fangs scrape his tongue with delicious pain. Her hooves into his mane and they barely heard the door behind him as it closed.

She pulled her mouth free of his with a slight sucking sound. There was a visible trail of saliva connecting their mouths through the water.

“Remove the transport.” She said in an arousingly breathless voice.

The clips came free in seconds. The howdah was moved in front of the door. The group spread out from there. Spike moved somewhat close to a position that provided a great view of the female and continued to idly take his notes. Twilight stayed in the howdah and began touching herself out of sight. Lovestain moved next to Spike and put her hoof in position for clopping. The changeling began to idly drift about the rooms eyes open wide to allow Chrysalis to get a good view. Chrysalis was also touching herself in her lair, even though she had a swarm of subjects around her she wasn’t both their presence. She found it comforting actually, which in turn made it easier for her to clop in peace. Pyro moved to a spot that afforded her an even view of the pair. She was joined by Blood Spray they looked at each other and nodded simultaneously before positioning hooves in front of each others vagina slits. Blood Leak moved to a position that offered minor solitude and a good view of Aphrodite. Liber just sat by her ‘mommy’ and blushed as she tried to not look, and failed. She saw the others looking, including mommy, and gave in as she brought her hoof her to her slit.

The others were in position when Aphrodite pushed Havoc onto his back and looked down at his equipment. Her eyes widened as she saw them. She wondered how this would work. She began to move down, she kissed him as she went down. When to his members she had already thought up a plan. She grasped the lower one with her dainty and naked hooves and lightly pecked the tip of the upper one. His hips pushed up in response. She smiled and gave the lower one a longer and deeper kiss. He released water from his lungs. Then she placed her lips around head of the upper one and licked it slowly. She began to move her hooves up and down on the lower one. Soon she began to suck at the upper one and her swirling tongue increased its speed, as did her hooves which also began to go higher and lower. She had closed her eyes when she wrapped her lips around the upper phallus, now she opened them and looked up at him with her pink glowing orbs. He pushed up into her throat as a response of sorts. She didn’t even gag. She accepted the little more like a champ and stroked deeper with her hooves. Then Havoc shot his sperm out forcefully through the water to impact her chest.

She swallowed what shot into her throat. Then she pulled her mouth off and looked at her smeared chest. She wiped it off with a hoof and to her surprise and mirth it started swimming, separating as individuals spread out to increase their chances. Twilight quickly cast a shield spell on the members of the group as well as the Kelpies. Nobody wanted those things swimming up to them, just as the females didn’t want to risk impregnation by stray semen. Aphrodite giggled when she saw this. When she finished she saw Havoc’s members pointed at her and flipped onto her back. Her slit was open and she didn’t mind the pressure that would be against her stomach, she didn’t even mind the idea of the spray directed to her or the knowledge that he might not have activated a prevention spell. She honestly welcomed the addition to the gene pool, the kelpies had been inbreeding for a long time and she was worried about some of the mutations she had seen. She would welcome as much as she could, similarly to a species of marsupial that is extinct on Havoc’s world she could contain her fertilised eggs in stasis until she decided she felt like laying them. This adaptation allowed them to tightly control their population as well as revitalize it quickly in case of disaster. With this adaptation and his genes she would serve her people well.

Havoc flipped up and pulled her against him. He looked down before impaling her with phallus. They slid together as he pushed himself all the way in. Her slit was at the meeting between fur and scales. His legs grasped her sides and he entered her fully. She gritted her teeth as her cervix was penetrated and he pushed against the back of it. She actually felt it being shaped around the intrusion and closed her eyes tightly and grasped his stomach with her forelegs. She whimpered when it finally stopped and thanked her biology for its design, otherwise she might not live through this.

Unlike surface dwellers and seaponies, hippocampi lay eggs. They have five sets of ovaries, each with its own tube leading to the womb. The eggs are produced and stored inside the chambers until necessary release. Sperm would travel through the fallopian tubes until it reached the eggs stored inside the ovary chambers. Eventually eggs would be moved to the womb for nurturing, if the mother decided to take them out of stasis, where they would grow for a little over three days ( or eighty hours) before being released. Hippocampi can contain hundreds of eggs in each of the egg chambers, they start out as such tiny and cannibalistic hatchlings or fry. They do not produce eggs unless they are in heat which is dictated by the Lady of Love. She had put herself into estrus as soon as she saw him, she saw opportunity. The opportunity to help her people, and who wouldn’t take that?

She felt the release of sperm against her insides and outsides and shuddered, which increased the flow as Havoc was further stimulated. Then began the thrusting. He pulled out slowly, she felt her insides repositioning as he did so. It was an odd feeling. She suspected it felt like this when Leonidas had been shredded by that Mylodon a number of years ago. It had bumped into him while he was crossing the forest and reacted rather violently to his yelling. That was how he had lost his eye, something much meaner than any mylodon had taken his arm. When he was almost out he pushed back in quickly and she yelped. Once more the shifting feeling. It felt kind of nice the second time around. He slowly pulled himself out and she felt his legs shaking. He waited a moment before pushing back in and restraining from the release his body wanted. It was difficult. He pulled most of himself free from her tight grip quickly and paused before pushing back in. It was no easier than the first time but he didn’t mind, he could feel the difference between her moisture and the water with the first push. She felt slimier inside than the water did. He momentarily pondered what she might have been doing to already be like that, he wondered how long she had been ready before they began. Soon he decided it didn’t matter and returned to what he was doing.

The wet sucking sound they made as he pulled out traveled to his companions. It was heard again as he pushed back in and he felt himself drawing too close.

“Are you okay with me doing it inside again?” He asked.

“I... nng... Invite you to do so.” She answered as she felt him pulling out once more. She felt close as well. She really was glad for this find. She had been considering kidnapping a few males and possibly females from the surface dwelling population of equines. That might have resulted in war, and they wouldn’t be as powerful as the hybrids resulting from this mating.

He pushed in once more and released his life essence into her. He focused it through the one inside her. She came as she felt the greater heat flooding her. It caused her to clamp down on him with her canal. When he finished releasing he pulled out fully and flipped her over. He positioned his lower body beneath hers and pulled her along until he felt the depression that indicated her reproductive entrance. Havoc was fairly certain this was the natural way for them as he pushed in. They went at it like this until they climaxed once more. He lifted her up and turned her to face him, then started dragging his members along her underside. He kept them aligned with her reproductive organ. She laughed beautifully as she suspected what he was attempting.

“Oh you’ll never find i- Eeeeeeeehh!” She cried as he found ‘it’. He discovered it was surprisingly close to her vagina, he actually hadn’t thought he could get both holes at the same time. He positioned the upper one in the depression leading to her vagina and the lower into the almost invisible anal slit. After Celestia and that dragon female were okay with it he figured she would be too. As he pushed in he heard this however.

“Take it out, take it out, take it out!” She cried. little did he know that the waste hole of hippocampi and seaponies was even less prepared than that of the surface dwelling breeds. They utilised a single hole for the release of all waste, their feces was so soft that it crumbled at the slightest touch. The garbage door had no experience with this.

Havoc was startled by this and rushed his previously slow and cautious motion. Her eyes widened as did his when he pushed in. He faced resistance but his uncontrolled strength pushed him through with ease. He had buried himself fully inside felt it. He felt it twitch and released ejaculate at the sensation of her tight orifice. Her eyes stayed wide and her mouth gaped as the warm ejaculate forcefully sprayed into her. Havoc’s eyes closed tightly in reaction to the numerous sensations he felt. When he stopped releasing and was able to focus on something he swiftly pulled out and fixed her bleeding orifice with healing magic.

“I am so sorry! It was an accident!” He apologised.

“THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT?!” She cried as she grasped at her sore area.

“You startled me and I’m really quite strong!”

“Argh! Just... Just go. The agreement is complete.”

“Bye Aphrodite.” Havoc said as he pulled the howdah on. He was still erect but decided to let it die down later.

“Wait!” Blood Spray yelled. Havoc stopped before he got the straps on. He believed water proofed. Otherwise Twilight would have said something before they entered the lake. The female kelpie swam in front of him and blocked his path with her body and outstretched forelimbs.

“I didn’t get my turn yet! And you said you would!” She proclaimed.

“Why not go elsewhere?”

“This is place as any and the ambience is great! Please stay here!” She pleaded. She knew the panicked look on his face. He had been about to run and not stop until her was very far away, she had seen it on prey before.

“Okay, Aphrodite?”

“Just make it quick!” She said in annoyance before sliding into the howdah after he replaced it in front of the door. Twilight had been shaken up by that and was surprised when the Lady of Love swam in behind her and wrapped a forelimb around her chest.

“Okay quick! Got it!” Blood Spray said and got in the middle of the room and spread her legs and lifted her tail.

“Sister?!” Her brother exclaimed in surprise.

“Busy yourself with the blue one brother.” She said tersely as Havoc got behind her. Her brother hurriedly swam up to Pyro and stuck a hoof in her slot. She responded in kind by grabbing his erection with her own hoof with a smile.

“Alright now, she didn’t like it ‘cause hippocampi poop like fishes. Kelpies eat bones and stuff so put it in me and don’t worry about me reacting like that.” Blood Spray commanded. Havoc entered without hesitation. He didn’t even aim really, kelpies were similar in design to regular ponies in terms of reproductive organ placement. Her anus was under the tail directly while the vagina was a little below. He got a scream as he entered and kept pushing. She was a little smaller than aphrodite so he had to push harder to get as much in. Her head whipped back and bit into his right forelimb which was grasping her right flank. Her teeth failed to puncture his tough hide, sharp as they were. He ignored her bite and began jackhammering his pelvis back and forth inside her orifices. She bit harder on his unmoving forelimb. He also felt her flippered hind legs kicking against him. She soon orgasmed and her kicks became erratic. He kept going and she came again, her kicking became weak. He forced another orgasm on her part and it was just her right flipper slapping against him in a weak, twitching, manner

He was able to do this because of his recent draining. He forced another and her jaws released and her kicks stopped altogether. Her head drifted forwards and began bobbing up and down with the motion, her eyes vacant and her jaw slack. Her tongue was extended lazily and her legs were hanging forwards in the water, kept there by the frantic motions of Havoc. She released again and her left leg twitched weakly. Havoc’s eyes were closed as he felt himself drawing closer once more. He pounded against her brutally until he shot a thick stream of ejaculate into her. Then he just pressed into her until he stopped flowing, she came again mid stream. He leaned his head down to her mouth and slid his tongue down her throat before pulling his members free and leaving a trail of white in the water.

“That was both good and swift.” He said. “Hey, are you alright? You look kind of blank right now.”

“Dude... I think you put her in a daze. Nice going.” Spike said in awe. He was amazed by this incredible display.

Yes well if you’re doone! Whoa! As... As I was saying, if you’re done talking about how you... F***. If you’re done talking about how you banged my sister, we need to get going.” Blood Leak said. He was a bit preoccupied with Pyro however, which explained his interrupted speech. She had recently brought him to orgasm using her talent at oral sex.

“Good idea.” Havoc agreed and grabbed her in TK. He pulled the howdah on once the Lady of Love exited it and she waved goodbye as he swam off with the group quickly climbing in. Except for Blood Leak and Liber Havoc.

Welcome to the safe zone! You may have successfully saved what little remains of your innocence, if you did not heed the warning and don’t like clop or were trying to save the shreds of your innocence then oh well.

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Hah! Just noticed that I didn’t use this is the previous chapter. My bad. Now back to the story.
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As the group swam, Blood Spray regained consciousness. She swam beside Havoc with a very pleased smile. Her brother shot her a dirty look which she blissfully ignored.

“We have got to do that again sometime.” She said with a sigh.

“You should know that I’ll require a warm up mare or two.” Havoc informed.

“That can be arranged.”

“You sound quite sure of yourself.”

“I am. Have you seen the mare - stallion ratio here? They outnumber males four to one and a few of those rare males are swimming in the wrong current. Besides, you aren’t too big for them. Now seaponies, they you are too big for. And they have a higher female to male count than the surface ponies or hippocampi. Heh, I hear their armies are mostly composed of females.”

“What do seaponies look like anyway?”

“Well they’re pony sized and mostly shaped. From the chest to the head anyway. After that it’s like a hybrid of seal or whale. You’ll know when you see one, so I hear.”

“Weird but also cool.”

“Mhmm. Well bye mate, see you next time right?”

“Definitely.”

As Havoc ascended with Liber by his side the group heard the pair arguing, “Sister! Why did you not tell me you intended to rut him! You should have given me a warning of some sort!” Blood Leak wailed angrily in anguish.

“Hey I really needed that! I haven’t been rammed in ages since these hippocampi are such wimps!” Blood Spray riposted furiously.

“Think they’ll work this out?” Lovestain asked.

“They’ll be fine. Just a siblings quarrel.” Spike answered.

“Where next Twilight?” Havoc asked.

“Go North. From the lake the nearest region is Stormica, home of the thunder lizards. Also home of the thunderbirds and lightning lizards.”

“Thunderbirds? They anything like my home’s thunderbirds? And thunder and lightning lizards?”

“Like your home’s thunderbirds these thunderbirds tend to drag storms along, they can actually make them at will. They don’t cause acid rain or carry hordes of deadly parasites and you won’t find any cyborg thunderbirds either. Also they’re sapient. The thunder lizards are very big dinosaurs in reality, the name ‘thunder lizard’ is a misnomer. They don’t have augmentation that lets them blast incredibly powerful sound waves but they are big like them. They are, however, immune to lightning and other effects of a storm and highly resistant to direct magic. They have to be at their size. The lightning lizards spit lightning and are moderately resistant to its effects, they are sapients. They are also bipedal and they somewhat resemble the Saurians, they are actually smaller than ponies however. Small enough to ride us in fact. So they’re hardly like the huge predators of your world. They are however carnivorous, and they tend towards navy, grey, yellow, and white in terms of coloration. You are likely to encounter thunderbird alphas, which are known as chromatics because of their colorful plumage.”

“Alright then. Liber get behind me, you’ll want to be in place to ride the slipstream.” Havoc said as he blasted through the surface. He angled himself north and began to pump his wings faster.

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

Time: 12:43 A.M. 74 days 23 hours 58 minutes since savior spell
Location: Stormica, 95 kilometers from Thunderhead Eyrie
…

“I love the feeling of wind rushing through my mane!” Pyropsyche said. Her head was outside of the confines of the howdah and her eyes were closed against the pressure of the wind. She opened her eyes and saw something odd. It looked like a fast moving storm cloud, not unusual in itself. What was strange was the speed at which it was moving. Pegasi typically couldn’t move clouds that fast and it would take a lot of them to move one of that size, which would slow them down further due to the issue of organizing them into an effective formation.

“What is that?!” She yelled.

“That’s a thunderbird!” Twilight yelled in answer. She was not squinting due to the aviators goggles she wore. She had ordered them while Havoc slumbered. She had actually requested them from Celestia, she had requested them because she’d had trouble with all the wind in her eyes from the first flight with Havoc. These were different from those the Wonderbolts wore. They had purple tinted lenses which had access to a multitude of spectrums, each was activated by unicorn magic. They had thicker gold rims and the strap was wider and built stronger for protection and stability in close combat, the strap was still white but it was decorated with gold filigree. Celestia liked her student very much.

“That thing’s huge!” Havoc yelled. He saw it was wreathed in the storm cloud. It was massive overall and built like an eagle. It had to be at least fifty meters from wingtip to wingtip. Its feathers were dark grey underneath the clouds yet its beak and feet were black. Havoc saw the ends of its flight feathers were an electric blue as were what he could see of its extended talons. Its eyes seemed inverted in design, the pupils were yellow while the iris was black. The thunderbird was headed right for them. Havoc slowed down to let it approach safely. It screech was like an obscene hybrid of the peal of thunder and the cry of an eagle.

“SSSSCCCCCCCRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!!” It roared. The power of it shook Havoc’s muscles and made his hide ripple.

“Is it angry or something?!” Havoc asked.

“I don’t know!” Twilight called back.

Then the previously slow moving storm clouds shattered as more thunderbirds burst from them. Even a chromatic was spotted and it was well named. It was all the colors of the rainbow except on its beak, feet, eyes, and the tips of its flight feathers. They were just like those of the first thunderbird except it had electric white/blue pupils. Havoc’s eyes widened in fear at this colorful monstrosity. Unfortunately he still had a pathological fear of rainbows.

“KILL THE INVADER!!” The chromatic roared. Maybe it wasn’t so illogical after all. Seeing as he’d nearly had his head taken off by Rainbow Dash and now this chromatic was ordering his death perhaps rainbows really were bad for him?

“Take the transport unit!” He yelled at Liber as he undid the clips. She grabbed it as it slid off his back and began to descend while staying on the flight path.

Havoc dodged up as one opened its great beak to hurl lightning at him. He saw sharp growths on the edges of the beak that looked like teeth. The hairs on his body stood on end as the massive bolt passed under him. He flew faster and tried to think up a plan while dodging the lightning blasts of the others. The chromatic opened its great beak and from it a spectrum of bolts ushered forth. Havoc brought up a shield quickly as the multicolored lightning was released. He washed over his shield and his pupils shrunk. This was almost as bad as the orbital prism cannon. He remembered that awful day all too well, he and his comrades were marching towards the enemies walls unhindered. Tanks and other vehicles raced ahead of them in straight courses, fearless because of the already crushed resistance. They should have known it was too light a force to be the main defence of a city that size and with a population so high. All the colors of the rainbow had rained down upon them and reduced many of his comrades to ash and molten metal, the Al’ Hira had never seen a weapon such as the orbital prism cannon and as such much of the the legion he was a part of at the time had been destroyed. The vehicles were little but slag and the stench was appalling. He had survived by charging onwards and cowering under the questionable safety of a fallen enemy tower. So many burning and dying with little warning, so many colors surrounding him...

Havoc screamed in primal fury as rage took over. He blasted a charge of energy at the chromatic and it was knocked back with a screech that shook the air. He turned his wrath upon the others. Fireballs lashed out at them from the exterior of the shield, turning the sky orange and yellow as they streaked through the air. The thunderbirds raged as the fireballs splashed against them and set their plumage alight in places. One charged at him, their great size was deceptive in regard to their true speed. It was upon him in barely three seconds, from its position approximately three hundred meters away. Its massive claws scraped harmlessly off Havoc’s shield, leaving trails of lightning in their passage. It slammed down with its right talon and it bounced back up. Havoc dropped his shield when it followed up with a kick with the same foot and latched on to the black leg with his fangs. His teeth pierced its flesh with ease. It screamed in pain as glowing dark red blood laced with electricity and black sprayed from the wound.

Havoc held tight as it pulled its leg up in an attempt to throw him off. When the leg hit the body he released his grip and gouged at it with his sharp horn. He swung it side to side and up and down, tearing a hole in its belly. It screamed once more. He launched himself into the wound and tore his way through its body like a mutant bird-fly maggot. He he kicked with his hooves, he bid with his teeth, he ripped with his wing claws, and he slashed with his horn. Its final scream was cut off as Havoc tore through its enormous lungs. It fell forty three meters before Havoc erupted from its back in a spray of gore. He flapped towards the next, which dodged to the side to avoid the vicious warrior. He altered direction and increased speed as he went after the next nearest thunderbird in sight. This one was unfortunately not fast enough to avoid his magically enhanced speed. He slammed into it like a bullet and ripped through a lung as he smashed its ribs. It began to fall as it couldn’t breathe, Havoc ripped his way through its body and once more emerged from its back in a spray of blood and veins. He was crackling with electricity.

Havoc loosed a feral roar that cause the air to ripple with its power before leaping from his falling perch and repeating the process of charge and impale with yet another thunderbird. He leaped out without hesitation and charged another thunderbird. This one tried to bite him, unfortunately he took the opportunity to force his way into its mouth and destroy its brain. He smashed his way through the back of its head with powerful strikes from his forehooves. He emerged coated in brain matter and crackling still. He was slightly scorched and smoke was rising from his fur but he maintained the psychotically bloodthirsty grin. He was in another world right now, a dark place where the light is filtered through and impeded by polluted skies and rainbows are something to avoid and fear. His home was just as deadly day or night so he was quite used to fighting in total darkness, he prefered night to day really. Made it harder for enemies to see you so you could focus more attention on muffling sound or smell. He laughed in his mad joy and charged a fifth thunderbird. There were thirty here, soon there would be far fewer.

The fifth clever bird raked him just before he impacted and drew blood. Burning hot blood sprayed the thunderbird as its flesh boiled painfully on contact. Havoc’s path altered, he impaled its chest with his wings and kicked it with his hooves. He felt the flesh softening with every hit. It was too focused on the burning sensation on its feet to realise its doom. Havoc slashed in with his horn and lunged inside. He ignored the agony of his torn flank and ripped his way through yet another thunderbird. He laughed the whole time even as he was immersed in its blood. He flapped through the skies on bloody wings as he sought out his sixth target. He caught it by surprise by arcing over it and landing on its vulnerable spine, he crushed through the tough bone and sinew with his momentum. He didn’t take the time to finish it before jumping from it and charging a seventh. Havoc gulped air as he broadsided its tough skull, his rear hooves impaled it through its great eye and it was soon dead. He pulled himself free and twisted in the air to charge an eighth with suicidal abandon. It blasted him with lightning from its great maw as he approached, the lightning burned but he powered through the might column of electric wrath. He exploded through the back of its throat and turned to crush its skull with TK. He had forgotten to use it in his mindless state.

Havoc grabbed five of them and smashed them together with a mental flex. They were turned into one by his psychotic strength and fell as a pile of organs, feathers, and bone. Havoc roared as one opportunistically grabbed him with its talons. It punctured his ribcage and he felt blood enter his lungs alongside the claws. He gritted his teeth and sent a column of flame into the thunderbirds chest. It crumpled and its claws clenched harder, Havoc used TK to pry its grip from him and keep the blood from pouring out of him or entering his lungs. His eyes glowed like miniature suns at this point. He focused his mind on two that intended to catch him on both sides, he imploded their skulls. Next he focused on the ones that were still spitting lightning at him. He twisted their lightning into a tight ball next to himself and absorbed its power into his body, he felt his wound close as his energy spiked and his pulse raced. He exploded towards them and managed to kill eleven in one go as the vast energy gain enabled him to perform a sonic rainboom. He felt like his eyes were going to retract into his brain. He roared as the eleventh impact staggered him in midair. Blood was staining the skies, drifting oddly enough and conducting the static charge of the dead and dying.

Now only three thunderbirds survived. They looked panicked. They couldn’t decide if trying to fly back to warn their brethren would be a better form of suicide than fighting the surprisingly deadly, and almost assuredly mad, foe. He laughed as he recovered from his tumble. He looked at them hungrily when he finally stopped. Eying them equally but eventually focusing on the source of his resurgence: The chromatic.

His eyes narrowed and he lunged at it in a blur of motion. He first slammed into its face, knocking it head over heels. Then on the rebound he beneath it and slammed it up into the air. He impacted its chest and it felt its sternum crack slightly. He pushed off and swept back over it to grasp its face.

“Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!! BAD BIRDY! HAHAHAHAHA! THE LITTLE RAINBOW BIRD THINKS HE CAN KILL US AGAIN DOES HE?!?! WELL FLACK YOU!” Havoc said as he glared into one of its eyes.

“NEVER HAVE I SLAIN YOUR KIND DEMON. IT WAS THEM WHO WARNED US OF YOUR COMING. FINISH ME MAD CONQUERER. WE ARE DOOMED ANYWAY.” The chromatic said calmly. Have complied by destroying its brain with a ball of power. Then he liquified the corpse in his frenzy, tearing the thing apart until it was colorful goo.

The other two had taken the chance the chromatic had afforded them. While Havoc angrily tore into its carcass they flew back to Thunderhead, the news they bore was grim and weighed heavily on their souls. However they knew he went to The Happy Hunting Ground where he would hunt to his dual hearts’ contentment and meet with his long dead ancestors.

Five minutes after landing and stomping angrily around the dead and the few dying Havoc calmed down. It was not because his rage was sated. He calmed down through sheer force of will, his endless rage urged him to assail the carcasses. He did not heed its command. He sat down atop a mostly intact corpse's chest and closed his eyes and tried to get relaxed to heal. He heard a scrabbling noise and ignored it at first. Then he heard angry whispers and became interested. He focused on healing as he tried to understand the hissing and snarling. When he was whole once more he opened his eyes and followed the sounds with his ears. He stomped along and his hooves made loud clacks against the stone, he knew this would lull them into a false sense of confidence because they would not know he could hear them under the sound of his own feet. They got a little louder as he suspected and his head twisted to face the direction the light scrabbling made. He leaped into the air and swiftly flew towards the sound, he overtook the fleeing lizards and crashed to the rough stone before them. They numbered in the hundreds he saw, but they were spread out to minimize the chance of a foe catching them all.

He had landed in the middle of their formation and looked about carefully, they dared not move. They were armored in slats of volcanic stone and some wielded blades of obsidian. Others had spears with obsidian heads or wielded odd clubs that had obsidian edges. A few had metal weaponry or various tools. They looked nervous. They really were similar to the Saurians despite their small size. They had pale bellies and lacked the row of plates but had the same nose spike, in place of the stegosaurus plates were smooth plates of armor that resembled those of an armadillo lizard. The plates ran down below the armor and Havoc assumed they ran the length of the Lightning Lizards bodies, he saw they ran down the backs of their tails as well. The lizards had a knee design similar to hominids but they tended to walk on the balls of their feet, he saw a few were winged and they had the leg structure of typical theropod dinosaurs. The heads of all the Lightning Lizards resembled that of a coelophysis, not that Havoc knew what that looked like. The feet too were shaped like theirs despite the differing leg structure and the tails were long and clearly flexible.

“Do you speak Equine Basic?” Havoc asked loudly.

“This one does!” One said as he rushed before Havoc and knelt at his forehooves. His voice was harsh and like a very large rat’s. His spear was dropped and he bore no shield. He was a light scout and as such did not bear a shield, while shields were very useful he had to slip into places where one would slow him down or completely prevent him from entering. His upper scales were grey like the rock below them. In truth all the Lightning Lizards of his tribe understood and were capable of speaking Equine Basic, it was considered the most commonly spoken language on the planet and it was a very big world.

“What are your kind doing here?” Havoc asked.

“We followed the Thunderbirds lord! We had hoped to feast on whatever was left of the things they came to kill. But now we wish to feast on them! Please allow us this boon mighty alicorn!” He explained and pleaded.

“Why do you wish to feed on them?”

“We are hungry and the goats are hidden and the sheep have moved away. The thunder lizards are too powerful for a tribe such as ours to prey upon. We need this or we will not last.” The lightning lizard kept his head pointed at the ground.

“Your brethren may feed with my blessing, take what you wish of the remains of the corpses.” Havoc proclaimed. The lizards cheer consisted of a high pitched roar and a rapid paced stomping of their feet. Then they rushed off the the carcasses. Havoc watched them, he noted that they understood what he had said. He also noted that they lowered their frontal bodies and stiffened their tails behind them as they ran. He slowly followed them and pondered the location of his comrades. As he reached the edge of the carcass field he laid down on his belly and kept his neck high. He kept watch and glanced at the lizards as they carved into the dead. They eagerly climbed into the holes he made and sliced off chunks with knives they all carried. From time to time they would fight over a choice piece of meat and occasionally it would get deadly, Havoc watched with one eye as a pair fought. They did not use their weapons, choosing to strip off their armor and fight tooth and claw. One attained victory by tearing out the other’s throat with his teeth, despite this he gained a number of wounds. He received a short roar in acknowledgement of his victory and grabbed up the chunk of thunderbird meat. He placed it on his armor and took up his knife to cut a chunk free of the fallen Lightning lizard and brought it with him to his armor pile before the carcass was swarmed by hungry lightning lizards.

When a particularly tall one who wore armor painted with odd patterns and was tattooed with similar symbols finished he stalked over to Havoc. He was winged and held a spear in one hand while his shield was strapped to his back. He had an obsidian edged club tied in a loop on the left side of his sinew belt and a metal sword on the right. The sword was sheathed in leather. On the left side as well was a long obsidian knife and a waterskin with a tube for drinking. He wore what appeared to be a wolf’s skull with the horns of a ram attached as head armor, there was a pelt underneath and a number of feathers pierced it, it covered his head and upper jaw and left his eyes visible.. He knelt before Havoc and placed his spear by his side before drawing his metal sword and placed it horizontally across his knee. His upper scales were lightning white, as opposed to his off white belly scales.

“You have saved my people and I am in your debt.” He said and his voice was deeper and more gravelly than that of the first Lightning Lizard Havoc had spoken to.

Havoc patted him on the head gently with a hoof.

“Will your tribe support me as well? I will require little of them.”

“Of course my lord.”

“Good to know. Are you the chieftain or high alpha of the tribe?”

“Yes lord.”

Havoc placed his horn across each shoulder before saying, “Rise chieftain, Tell me your name.”

“I am Great Skies lord.”

“I am Havoc Great Skies, I hereby knight you. I think that’s how it goes. Whatever, you and your tribe are now a part of...” Havoc tapped his chin thoughtfully. What would he call his army? Well the army of havoc had a ring to it, perhaps it would be the Havoc Corps (pronounced core)? That actually sounded pretty good, and while he doubted he had the required ten thousand that formed one of his people’s legions he was certain that number would grow.

“Alright, you are now a member of the Havoc Corps. You will retain command your tribe as you know them best. How numerous are your tribespeople?”

“They are roughly five hundred strong lord.”

“Rise colonel, take your best five leaders and bring them to me.”

“Yes lord.” Colonel Great Skies said and he rushed off to obey.

Havoc waited patiently as he gathered them. Col Great Skies returned with three fliers and two non-flyers.

“This one,” he said while pointing to a non-flyer that had scales as pale as bone and menacing red eyes, “is Silent Claw. He is one of our best scouts.” Silent Claw nodded. He wore mostly soft leather armor with slats protecting and overlaying his chest and shoulders. He did not carry many trophies and his leather armor was undecorated. There were rings of metal visible on his cuirass, it reached his a quarter of the way down his thighs. Similarly there were rings on the outer side of his bracers, underneath and reaching further than the slats were leather rerebraces. His legs were protected by leather greaves and cuisses. His cuirass had a hood of soft leather as well and he wore that in place of a helmet. His spear was coated with leather and its tip was wide but sharp for stabbing and slashing alike. He also had a well crafted obsidian blade dagger and a short bow. The short bow was made of a dark wood and appeared was already strung, at three feet it was as tall as he was. It rested in a combined quiver and bow case. The arrows were fletched with dark feathers and had a mix of metal, stone, obsidian, and wood tips which were color coded by the flights. The bowstring was formed of twisted sinew. He was well suited to stealth.

“This is Bone Stealer.” Col Great Skies said while pointing to a grey scaled flyer. “He specializes in rapid airborne attacks and likes to rip people’s bones out in combat.” Bone Stealer was well armored in the stone slats and it protected his chest, thighs, and upper arms. He wore a helmet of stone that covered the top half of his head leaving holes for his blue eyes while it cut off before reaching his nostrils. He had a number of bones tied to his armor with sinew, they were engraved with what might have been names. His forearms were protected by bracers of leather with stone on the outer side as his legs were with the stone protecting the front. He was armed with a metal headed great axe and a short fully stone spear. He was clearly a vicious warrior.

“This is Skywatcher.” The Col said while pointing to a brilliant yellow winged warrior who was indeed a female though Havoc wasn’t sure if she was just thin for their kind. “She is good with defensive fighting. She leads the female warriors.” Skywatcher wore a mix of slat and hide armor. Her chest, shoulders, and thighs were protected by slat armor which lay over white furred hide armor. The hide also protected her lower arms and head to her neck. She wore a helmet that appeared to be the skull of a larger member of her species, she was smaller than the males so it was likely a regular sized male’s. Her eyes were dark yellow. She was armed with a long metal headed spear and a a metal headed hatchet. Her shield was currently worn on her back and was metal overlaid with hide goat hide. She also had a short three foot tall bow in a combined quiver and bow case, it was taller than she was, and her arrows were all stone headed. The hatchet was in a loop in her sinew belt opposite her waterskin and dagger. She was impressive.

“This is Ravager.” Col Great Skies said and pointed to the dark grey scaled flyer. “He is a skilled crafter and is good with supportive fighting.” Ravager was taller than Great Skies, taller than the average pony at fully four feet. He wore tough looking metal armor that was covered with hide. It protected his chest, arms, head and thighs. The helmet had two holes for his eyes and two for his nostrils, his eyes were electric blue. His helmet had upturned horns attached to the sides and he may have used them for impaling. He was armed with a longsword and meticulously cared for crossbow. It was oiled and strung and protected in a case of leather. The bolts were tipped with iron and fletched with eagle feathers. He thumped his chest in acknowledgement, he was well equipped.

“And this is Doom Soul.” He said pointing to the navy blue non-flyer. “He specialises in siege warfare. He is also good with ground combat overall.” Doom Soul was well armored. He wore overlapping metal scale armor on his chest, it was attached to soft leather through metal rings. You wouldn’t see it however due to the hide he wore over it. His forearms were protected splinted metal bracers over which strips of hide were tied. His upper arms were protected by metal slat armor which was covered by the same hide that protected his chest. His thighs were protected by more metal slat which was in turn covered by the hide that protected his chest. His shins were protected by metal splint with strips of hide tied around them. Doom Soul nodded, his eyes were dark grey and unblinking. His head was protected by a wolf skull that was underlaid with hide that had numerous rings of varied composition piercing it. He was armed with a metal tipped short spear spear, an iron sword, a metal combat dagger, a metal headed hatchet, a quiver full of javelins, and an obsidian axe. Why an axe would be completely made from obsidian was anybodies guess, it was likely passed down to him from his ancestors. He looked dangerous.

“Good. You five are now centurions. Take command of a hundred warriors that match your talents after Col Great Skies takes his warriors of choice.” He did not elaborate on their ranks. Most centurions were simply centurion in his culture. All together this tribe did not add up to even a single cohort. The average century is one hundred warriors and the centurion, one in five is an alpha. The average cohort was made up of ten centuries which made a thousand soldiers plus the command structure and the slaves and supply carriers. Above the average centurions is the primus pilus, he is leader of the cohort. Typically centurions are drawn from the nobility and various chieftains in the Empire’s territory. Col Great Skies went off to gather his elite team while the centurions waited with Havoc, they glanced up at their still slightly smoking and fully blood soaked benefactor. Skywatcher took the initiative and sat on a foreleg. She was capable of sitting quite comfortably on the enormous limb. Silent Claw stood and looked at the tribe coldly. Ravager leaned against Havoc’s great chest as did Bone stealer and Doom Soul. The average Lightning Lizard male was three feet in height, the flyers were a bit taller at three feet three inches and the average female was four inches shorter for each gender. This made Ravager a giant among his kind.

When Col Great Skies had gathered his elite team of twelve the others went forth to take their hundred. Havoc thought up his plan while they divided the tribe into five. He decided that he could definitely use these people. And they could use and upgrade to their equipment.

“Col let me upgrade your equipment. Strip naked and lay down your weapons.” Havoc ordered. Great Skies did as told and stood. Havoc enveloped him with his magic and began to craft their equipment, he formed the good Col armor of mithral with a coat of platinum. He made a soft hide shirt and pair of pants for the chieftain, complete with loops for the belt. He also made loops for the various equipment he’d seen. Next he made a solid cuirass with straps of leather in the front plate to hold it on him until his closed the clamps on the shoulder that connected it to the back plate. Then he made two piece bracers to protect his forearms, they closed with clamps on the front of his forearm and were linked where they protected the back. Next he focused on his upper arm. Havoc formed rerebraces linked to pauldrons that were attached to the cuirass by swivel clamps. Havoc protected the thighs with similarly two piece cuisses they were linked on the part that protected the inner thigh and were clamped on the outer side. His hands were protected by customized gauntlets, he simply slid his hands in and clamped the back of the cuff closed and they fit him perfectly, of course they had a soft underlayer of hide to protect him from anything that got through the thin joints. He made greaves and armor for the middle leg that was similar to the cuisses. To protect joints he relied upon the hide pants at the start. Havoc went on to create sabatons, they were formed of numerous overlapping plates and were attached by swivel clamps on the outer sides of the legs. Havoc protected his Col’s head and neck with a helmet that was fitted to fitted to go under the bone helm the he had worn before Havoc levitated the helm onto the basic plate with holes for the eyes and nostrils and thinning at the ear holes. He attached them with spikes quickly grown through the bone that were sealed with flat discs grown at the tips. The helmet was now much more effective. Havoc had formed two projections that went below the jaw, this had two strips of hide that were held tight by a platinum clip. The chieftain flexed in his armor.

“All finished Col.” Havoc said calmly.

He saw his companions approaching in the mist and smiled.

“It seems my comrades have come back for me.” Havoc said with a smile.

“I feel somewhat exposed in this armor. It protects me well but I’m so easily seen.” Col Great Skies complained.

“You won’t be fighting thunderbirds so you should be fine.” Havoc eased.

“As you say lord. What are your comrades like?”

“Varied my little friend, varied.”

The armored former chieftain was grim.

AUTHOR’S NOTES
Thank you all for your patience, you’re wonderful you know that? In fact, knowing that I have the ability and opportunity to make you all smile when you check fimfiction to see the latest update makes it all worth it. Yes even Pinkie Pie Extradimensional Author Enforcer Extraordinaire cannot dampen my joy. Tried to make up for the lateness by lengthening the chapter. And Such. Reality is kicking my butt like it’s getting paid. Probably gonna be forced to update in four to five day increments, sorry everybody. Aaargh, so tired... Need Sleep... Badly. Gonna... Gonna rest while the pinkster is gone. She hates it when I call her that you know. I’m probably gonna regret that, meh. I’m probably bad enough to just survive whatever she throws at me... Nergh, may your enemies meet swift and painful deaths by your hands my friends. For as the text says

‘With victories over others, we conquer. But with victories over ourselves, we are exalted. There must always be contests, and you must always win. ~ Kor Phaeron - Master of the Faith.

And we like to conquer don’t we?

(Really hope that doesn’t count as plagiarism.)