Drogur and Havoc talked about their respective lives until Wartooth returned, followed by three alpha diamond dogs, Medea and five more people belonging to different species.

“Havoc, these are Alpha Claw of Broken Depth, Alpha Silverfur of Emerald Eyes and Alpha Bonesnapper of Boulderfist,” Drogur introduced him to the Alphas. “The rest are dragon hunters like you. I keep forgetting your names so introduce yourselves.”

A large and muscular male who was very similar to a human, save for his dark blue skin covered in tattoos and his pure white eyes without pupils, approached Havoc first. He wore a headdress, bracelets, sandals and a loincloth made of gold and steel. He introduced himself as Coatl and powerfully shook Havoc’s hand, stating how glad he was to finally meet the famous Havoc.

A griffon with black and white feathers past his middle-age approached him next, He said that his name was Bonhart and seemed a bit surprised to find that Havoc had not heard of him before, but he quickly recovered.

The next one was a light turquoise pegasus mare with an amber mane and a cutie mark of three stars hit by lightning named Lightning Dust. Havoc remembered hearing that name before, maybe from another human when discussing the show events that had taken place in Equestria after he got sent there, but he didn’t remember anything else about her.

The fourth one was a dark spectre, its face being two eyes and a mouth glowing with red light on his head and having two large hands with sharp claws. The rest of his body was black and seemed to constantly move like some sort of gas. His voice echoed and gave Havoc the shivers when he told him his name: Noctem.

Lastly, an alien being approached him. Having watched Dragon Ball Z when he was young, Havoc couldn’t help but feel terrified when the creature named Fridge talked to him. He sincerely hoped that he only resembled Frieza in appearance, and not in power, or else he could easily destroy the whole world if he ever wanted to.

The Alphas talked for a long time about courses of action before deciding to continue the meeting without the dragon hunters, who were told to not come back unless they were called in.

“Well, that was boring,” Coatl said. “I’m going out to get some sunlight, you coming?” he added, looking at Havoc.

“Sure.”

On the way out, Coatl stopped on a tavern and bought some beer “to pass the time”. As soon as they were out, his tattoos began to glow yellow and he sighed in delight.

“What are you supposed to be?” Havoc asked.

“An Osh-Tekk. It’s a race from Mortal Kombat, and as you can see there’s this Aztec theme going on. I get stronger under the sunlight, and I can use Blood Magic to become even stronger.”

“Strong enough to kill dragons?”

“Yup, it’s awesome. Not as awesome as that Mewtwo guy flinging dragons around like ragdolls but you get the idea.”

“Yeah. I wanted to ask you: how powerful is that Fridge guy?”

“Oh, not much. I guess you thought he was Dragon Ball strong, fortunately he isn’t. We’ve sparred a few times and I have to hold back to avoid hurting him.”

“Thanks god. I was so afraid that he would be planet-destroying powerful. What about the others? How well do you know them?”

“Well, I was the second one to join this dragon hunting thing, so I’ve had time to learn some stuff about everyone else.”

“So what can you tell me? I would like to know what to expect of everyone once the super dragons knock on our door.”

Coatl took a big gulp from his beer before talking. “Well, you already know Mewtwo, Medea and Apollo. Mewtwo isn’t very talkative but he’s so good at killing dragons that nobody cares, even if we all feel a bit on edge around him with his mind powers. Nobody knows what’s wrong with Medea, but she’s a total bitch. That armor of hers is great, though. Apollo is a one trick pony but boy is it a good trick. He loves complaining about everything, so he can become quite annoying.”

“Yeah, I know,” Havoc said, remembering how Apollo complained about literally everything while they traveled to Black Diamond.

“I think Fridge is very young, probably under fifteen. Take it easy on him, going through all this pony bullshit AND puberty at the same time must be awful. Noctem is… weird. I think he’s in denial about what happened to him, because sometimes he acts like he’s the only real person around. Still, he can steal a dragon’s life force and then turn into one to finish off his weakened opponent. Pretty neat.
Bonhart isn’t a human. I think he was some sort of celebrity years ago. He won’t admit it, but all he does nowadays is copying Griffon to try to become as popular as him. He’s very good, though, he’s some sort of freak who can memorize attacks after seeing them once and then either use them himself or come up with a perfect counterattack.
Lightning Dust is a Wonderbolt reject. Apparently she was too reckless and she got expelled from the Academy. Despite that, she’s the best there is using that technique the Wonderbolts have to take down dragons. Maybe she wants to force them to readmit her by killing more dragons that any of them? I don’t like them ponies so we haven’t talked much.”

“There are more dragon hunters, right?”

“Yeah, four more. Two humans and two natives. There’s Mike, who looks like a cat-human hybrid. Likes the ones in Skyrim, you know? At night he can turn into an Ursa Major.”

“An Ursa Major?”

“Yep, he does that and then pummels to death any dragon fool enough not to fly away. Sadly, he’s really annoying. Like, he’s always wearing a fedora, talking about atheism and being a gentleman, and calling women ‘my lady’. He’s also extremely obsessed with ponies. It’s impossible to speak to him without him changing the subject into philosophy or ponies or that kind of shit.
He’s not the worst, though. There’s also Coldsteel. He looks like a super edgy purple Sonic the Hedgehog. He’s always trying way, way too hard to look cool. He can’t really kill dragons on his own, either, so more often than not he tags along with someone else and helps. The only one who stands him is Ibis, the one who started this dragon hunting idea.
She’s actually a dragon herself, a really old one and the last of her breed. She has a magic necklace that turns her human-sized so she can easily interact with us. She’s very nice, but being around her gets weird, what with her being so old and all. I mean, when she was born humanity was starting to learn how to cultivate stuff.”

“When you put it that way, it IS a lot of time. Why would she kill her own kind, though?”

“I asked her the same question, and she told me that she wants dragons to return to their glory days. She’s given up diplomacy, so now she’s trying to force them into behaving by killing any who doesn’t. Well, that pretty much sums it up.”

“I think you missed one.”

“Oh, right, Antenna! She’s a changeling queen whose entire hive was wiped out by a dragon. She managed to kill it, but by the time it died the damage was done. Since then, she’s been hunting any dragon known to have killed. Joining us was the next logical step for her.”

“And you, why did you decide to hunt dragons?”

Coatl shrugged. “It’s good exercise, and better money. Scales and bones sell very well, and we get a share from the dragons we kill. We also can claim a part of the hoard of any dragon we kill, but who’s dumb enough to go to their land and try to retrieve it?”

“That’s a shame. So, what do you guys do when there are no dragons to fight?”

“We drink and we fight, mostly.”

“... That sounds great, actually.”

The next morning, Havoc woke up feeling dizzy. Turns out that getting drunk and then sparring with Coatl wasn’t such a good idea, after all. After a few minutes aimlessly wandering around the depths of Black Diamond (he didn’t mind living in the underground area, but a house on the surface would have been nice), he found a kitchen where Fridge was having bacon and eggs for breakfast.

“Good morning,” he tiredly muttered, then he sat in front of him and used his magic to prepare his own breakfast without having to move.

“Hi.”

After a few seconds, Havoc spoke again. “So what’s your story?”

Fridge shrugged. “The usual. I got tricked into saying I wanted to come here, then I woke up like this.”

“Yeah, one would think gods would be more original than that. How long have you been here?”

“Almost a year, now. It feels like forever, though.”

“Yeah, I can relate.” Havoc’s breakfast levitated towards him. Doing it with magic had made a big mess, but he didn’t care. His digestive system could take on anything, after all. “I miss home.”

“I miss my family.”

They said nothing for the next minutes, both deep in thought. “If only one of us could just make a portal from here to Earth,” Fridge said, breaking the silence.

“Hey, if I ever learn how to do that, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Ibis the dragon is about to arrive,” Havoc heard Mewtwo’s voice say in his head, surprising him. “Do not attack her, I don’t want a repeat of that one time.”

“Did you hear that?” Havoc asked Fridge.

“Yeah, Mewtwo always does that whenever he’s with Ibis since that one time some dogs sounded the alarm because they thought she was a regular dragon.”

“I sort of want to meet her. Are you coming?”

“Sure!”

Havoc was surprised by how fast Fridge had gone from gloom to excited. He had never given age too much importance when dealing with other humans. However, after Coatl pointed it out, he also thought that Fridge was probably barely a teenager. He felt sad for him, dragged away from his family and his life at such a young age.

Once they reached the surface, they found Bonhart applying some sort of wax to a large black dragonscale that had been fitted with a handle, allowing Bonhart to wield it as a claymore.

“Good morning, you two. You heard about Ibis, huh?”

“Yep. Nice weapon you’ve got there,” Havoc said. “If you’re half as good as Griffon with one of those, it’s no wonder you make a living out of hunting dragons.”

“I heard you bested him a couple of times. We should try sparring some day.”

“Oh, there’s Coldsteel,” Fridge spoke up, pointing at a trail of dust in the distance that was approaching them.

Bonhart groaned. “Why won’t he just die?”

The trail quickly reached them, and a hideous purple anthropomorphic hedgehog stopped in front of them.

“So, you’re the new one,” he said, looking at Havoc while smirking. “Consider me unimpressed.”

“Careful there, you could cut yourself with those edges,” Havoc replied, frowning.

Coldsteel leaned against a wall. “Those pathetic dogs might think you’re strong. We’ll see what you can do against dragons.”

Havoc crouched, like one would do to talk to a little kid, until he was eye to eye with Coldsteel. “Yes. We will see.”

Coldsteel and Havoc maintained eye contact, until Coldsteel averted his eyes and walked past Havoc, going into the cave while mumbling something that sounded like the lyrics to a song.

“Well, that was certainly something,” Havoc said. “Is he always like that?”

“Yes. At least this time he just left,” Fridge said. “He’s always either trying to start a fight or being all sad and depressed about everything.”

“So why don’t you just tell him to go fuck himself?”

“And lose our decoy? He is annoying, that’s true, but at least while he’s around dragons are too busy trying to kill him to focus on the rest of us,” Bonhart explained.

“Besides, we’re only thirteen. If one of us dies or quits, even less people will dare to hunt dragons.”

“Especially now that they might have learned magic.”

“Alright, alright, we need him alive,” Havoc admitted.

Minutes later, the largest dragon that Havoc had ever seen bursted from behind a cloud. She was easily twice the size of Abaddon, the humongous black dragon that Aio rode in the battle of Black Diamond. Her scales were golden, and the only signs of her being female were the slightly more curved torso and her lighter face, with her jaw not being as thick and heavy as a male’s. Carefully, she slowed down until she could land on a large clearing without damaging her surroundings, and then shrunk until she became roughly human-sized. At the same time, Mewtwo, Apollo and a feline humanoid that could only be Mike jumped down from her back.

“Good morning, my fine colleagues,” Mike greeted them, tipping his fedora. “Charmed to meet you, sir Havoc.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you too, Mickey,” Havoc said, ignoring Mike’s outstretched arm to focus on Ibis. “I guess you must be Ibis. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

“Indeed I am, Havoc,” Ibis said, her voice deep and carrying a strange wisdom and power behind it, much like Celestia’s. “Drogur has praised you in many occasions. I must admit that I am curious about you, too.”

“Man, I sure am tired,” Apollo said. “I guess they gave us underground rooms. Again. What must a stallion do to get a decent place to sleep in this den? Anyways, now that we’re all here we should meet with the alpha dogs before they start complaining.”

“Antenna has yet to arrive, Apollo,” Ibis reminded him. “Besides, after flying for so many hours I am quite tired, so I would like to rest before dealing with them. Havoc, would you kindly accompany me?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Havoc automatically replied, following her away from the others without ever considering to turn the offer down.

Ibis led Havoc away from Black Diamond, to a small lake in the nearby forest, far away from everyone else. “I gather your magic is similar to Discord’s. Could you make some sort of bathtub? With hot water.”

Nodding, Havoc snapped his fingers and a jacuzzi appeared in front of him. Ibis dipped her finger in the bubbling water and then looked at Havoc. “This is pony-hot, not dragon-hot,” she said before breathing fire into the water until it began to boil.

“Oh, right! I’m sorry,” Havoc apologised.

“Don’t be. It is a common mistake,” she said as she got into the jacuzzi, humming in delight as she closed her eyes and relaxed. After a minute, she looked at Havoc. “Don’t stand there, join me.”

Havoc’s first instinct was to immediately obey, but then he realized that boiling water would actually burn him, so he turned into his brown teen dragon form before getting into the jacuzzi. The bubbling boiling water felt great on his scales, so much that he couldn’t help but sigh.

“Interesting, that transformation of yours. It is beyond what common shapeshifters can do, but the spell itself wasn’t powerful. You humans always manage to surprise me.”

Havoc groaned. “I’m starting to miss the days when I had to keep my true identity a secret. Now everyone seems to know about humans.”

“To be fair, that might be because you have gone from living disguised among ponies and diamond dogs to becoming famous and rubbing shoulders with alicorns. In addition, the general populace is becoming aware of humans, just like last time.”

“Last time?”

“This isn’t the first time Equis has received human visitors. Last time it took only a thousand years for everyone to believe you are legendary creatures that never existed.”

“Let me get this straight: every few thousand years, the powers that be decide to put a bunch of humans in this planet and see what happens?”

“More or less. This is the third game, as far as I know. The first one took place twenty thousand years ago, approximately. From what I remember, things got out of control and a whole continent was destroyed. That first game shaped this world in many ways. You should ask one of the alicorns about it. I’m sure they know much more than I do about it.”

“What about the second?”

“That one was quite tame. You see, nobody wanted a repeat of the first one, what with the mass extinctions and destruction on a continental scale. The second game’s rules were very restrictive, allowing only to pick humans as champions and banning turning them into anything stronger than what an alicorn could handle. I think the game ended when the next-to-last human died of old age. I’m not a god or a player, so I only know so much.”

“Could you even play the game, if you wanted to?”

“Ha! I have never considered it. I am not interested in competing against such powerful beings. You see, I would rather to be the biggest fish in the aquarium of mortals than a small fish in the ocean where gods live. Maybe I meet the requirements, who knows?”

“Do you think I could win?”

“Well, you have been doing well so far. You did well to come here. We are far enough away from the things that matter to become inconspicuous. Being in Canterlot, battling Tirek, all those things you did were drawing too much attention towards yourself. That gets people killed as much as being too weak or too reckless. Keep growing powerful while the rest are too busy dealing with what they perceive as immediate threats. They won’t forget about you, but the saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’ is quite true. They won’t realize just how much of a threat you are until it is too late for them.”

“I’d never thought about it that way,” Havoc admitted. “I thought that becoming notorious and having powerful friends would ensure my safety. Then I almost got killed by Tirek and I realized that being under the spotlight only makes me an easy target.”

“Exactly. Now, I think you won’t be surprised to learn that I didn’t request you to join me just to give you pieces of wisdom. Mewtwo told me about Gregor, but he was rather succinct. I would like to hear everything you know about that.”

Despite the boiling water, Havoc shivered. Ibis’ gaze had gone from soft and motherly to hard and ruthless. “Well. You see, he started saying words in another language and magic happened. I think-”

His words were cut short when Ibis moved forwards, her head inches apart from Havoc’s, and spoke. “I am not like the rest of my kind, Havoc. How do you think I was able to get this amulet that shrinks me, something not even alicorn magic can do? How come I hunt my own race, even though my scales and fire are among the weakest? I know Draconish, the true language of my kind, which is the same as the language you call Latin in your homeland. My parents taught it to me before my wings came out.
You must tell me everything you know. The other dragons are corrupted beasts that no longer deserve to be referred to as anything other than monsters. If they rediscover the true power we wield, the entire world might be razed to the ground with nothing being able to stop it.”

Havoc said everything he knew, sparing no detail. Ibis groaned, annoyed by how little he actually knew. “For a thousand years, I travelled all over the world erasing all records of Draconish, to keep it hidden and forgotten. I thought I had been thorough enough, but it seems I wasn’t.”

“Wait a moment,” Havoc said. “I have many questions.”

“Alright, what is it?”

“You said your scales are the weakest. Is that because you don’t belong to any of the seven colors?”

“The seven colors,” Ibis spat. “I will tell you about the seven colors. In the beginning, there were more than a dozen colors, but only one mattered. The platinum dragons were our royalty, as they were the strongest and most intelligent of us. Two platinums would create more platinums, but any color combination has a chance to lay a platinum egg. Bronze, silver, and my own gold are colors that occur when a platinum has offspring with any other color. Each color inherits one characteristic of the platinum. Bronze has the size, growing larger than any other, and the strongest firebreath. Silver has the scales and strength. We goldens have the intelligence and magic prowess. The other colors were all roughly the same. Then, the seven Lords betrayed the platinums. Each of the Lords belonged to a different color, and they made a pact with Tiamat, our dark goddess. Tiamat would give them the power to get rid of the platinum dragons, and in exchange they all would become slaves to the emotions she embodies: greed and rage. Immediately, all the dragons of those seven colors became stronger and unable to control themselves. With their numerical superiority and new powers they eradicated the platinums, and then the golds, silvers and bronzes. They have a natural hate towards the platinums, so strong that they will smash any platinum egg they lay, so no platinums are born anymore.”

“Wow, that’s… I had no idea.”

“The only reason they didn’t destroy the whole world is that the blinding rage that took over them turned them into beasts unable to speak. For better or for worse, Tiamat’s influence weakens with every generation. Luckily, by the time the influence weak enough for newborns to learn languages, Draconish was a dead language. There might be a day when they return to how they were before, and my race will recover its lost glory. That day is far away, though, so we must stop them from learning Draconish no matter what.”

“I get that. Still, how do you fight other dragons without Draconish if you’re weaker than them?”

“Maybe you haven’t noticed, but I’m one of the oldest dragons alive. It is not often that I find a dragon who poses a risk, they are too small and inexperienced. And, if things get rough, all I need is a whisper to destroy my enemies.”

“You are one scary dragon lady. Just how powerful are you? Could you defeat Celestia, or even Discord?”

Ibis laughed. “I know for a fact that Discord can just snap his fingers and end my life. I lived during his reign, and I remember how he forced all the half-savage dragons to submit to his will. He gathered thousands of them and killed them by the hundreds until they fled in terror. Celestia… Well, let’s say we stay away from each other.”

“Now I really want to know. What happened?”

“I sneaked into the royal library, back when it was in the Everfree Forest’s castle, to destroy all books that mentioned Draconish. She caught me and we ended up fighting. I didn’t want to kill her, because someone has to move the Sun every morning, and she’s not into killing. Luckily, we fought at night when she can’t call on the full power of the Sun, so I could overwhelm her and flee while she recovered from her injuries. I really would rather not fight her ever again.”

“Awesome. Now, I have one last question: what do you want from me that’s important enough to share all this information with me?”

“Because you are very hard to kill, and I could use someone with that trait. I must know how Gregor learned Draconish. That will involve sneaking into lairs and searching through other dragons’ hoards. I need a partner who can hold his own.”

“Why not Mewtwo? He’s the best at fighting dragons.”

“Because I don’t like him. I know he can read minds, and mine holds many secrets I don’t want him or anyone else to see. Being next to him for long periods of time is out of the question. It has to be you.”

“Alright… So what’s your plan? We ditch Gem Fido and go to the Badlands to look for clues?”

“Nothing like that. Everything will be the same, but every once in awhile you’ll come with me and help me investigate. I would rather have some help if I have to fight another dragon who knows Draconish.”

Havoc nodded. “I like your plan. Alright, count me in.”

“Good, now let’s go back. And remember: this will be our secret. I won’t be happy if you run your mouth about this.”

“Understood.”

When they got back, they didn’t find any of the other dragon hunters on the surface, so they went into the underground. Soon, a diamond dog approached them. “Alphas have orders for you. Go see them now.”

“Let’s see what they want this time.”

The dog led them to the meeting room, where the alphas and the other hunters were already gathered.

“Good, now that you’re all here, we can discuss the matter at hand.” Drogur began. “By now you all know about Gregor. However, we just got a message from Queen Antenna. Last night, she fought a teen dragon who could also use magic like Gregor. Luckily, she managed to get some information from the dragon before killing him. She wrote that the source of these magic dragons is a place named Castle Vadriz. She-”

“Is she sure about that?” Ibis asked.

“I think so, why? Do you know where is this Castle Vadriz?”

“Drogur, there are two places in the whole world I actively avoid. The first one is Midnight Castle, for obvious reasons. The second one is Castle Vadriz. It is a gigantic mountain that was turned into a castle meant to house us dragons. Ancalagon, the Black Lord, lives in it.”

“Hm… Are we supposed to know who that is?”

“He is to the rest of us dragons what Celestia is to ponies, both in age and power.”

“If he’s that powerful, how come none of us knew about him until now?”

“He never leaves Castle Vadriz. There is a reason my race built such a massive building there. Vadriz is actually a volcano that releases massive amounts of gemstones from deep within the planet. He is so massive that he would starve if it weren’t for that, and he won’t ever abandon such a precious hoard.”

“So a demigod dragon is teaching magic to the others,” Havoc said. “That’s just great. What do we do now?”

“Any ideas, Ibis?” Drogur asked.

“Not yet. This is really bad. For as long as I remember, Ancalagon has been a rage-filled monster unable to do anything but kill anything he sees. If he’s the one teaching the others magic, we’ll need help. Discord backed up by the alicorns and all of us, at least.”

“Discord couldn’t handle Ancalagon on his own?” Havoc asked, confused.

“I doubt it. Ancalagon is probably way beyond Discord in the raw power department, and now that he has magic he can use that power to its full potential.”

“Okay, I was scared before. Now I’m terrified,” Fridge said. “What can we do?”

“For now, we improve our defenses,” Drogur said. “We’ll create dragonscale equipment for everyone who needs it, and take advantage of the MADAR so we won’t be caught unprepared. All of you who want armor or weapons, go with Wartooth to the armory. We’ll have another meeting tomorrow to decide where each of you will be located.”

Havoc prepared to leave, but Ibis motioned him to stay. When only Drogur, Ibis and him remained in the room, Ibis spoke: “Bulla circa cubiculum quod absorbet sonitus. Now we can speak freely, no sound will get out of this room.”

“So you’re in on this, too,” Havoc said, looking at Drogur.

“Yeah, the first time she heard me say magic words, we had a very long talk,” he explained. “She also warned me against teaching Draconish without her permission,” he added, frowning.

“Things have changed. Drastically. Ancalagon is one of the Seven Lords that made the pact with Tiamat. He was turned into a mindless beast, so he was relatively harmless. Now, he might have recovered his intelligence, which means he’ll speak Draconish and unleash magic powerful beyond measure if he wants to. I want to take a look around Castle Vadriz to learn what is going on. I’ll take Havoc, Lightning Dust and Coldsteel with me. Meanwhile, you have my permission to teach the Black Wolves everything you know, not just the basic words we agreed on.”

“Who are the Black Wolves?” Havoc asked.

“An elite group made entirely of diamond dogs with alpha blood. They are those too weak to become Alphas or Betas, or those who have allowed their offspring to take over their dens. They train everyday to become the best at fighting anything too dangerous for the average dog soldier to handle. They also know some magic to give them an extra edge in combat, but they make a blood pact never to challenge a Beta or Alpha. I don’t want them to train and then use their training to become Alphas.”

“Seems like a tough deal, how many of them are there?”

“Roughly a hundred. The offer of becoming the most dangerous and fearsome diamond dogs in the world is very tempting, despite the drawbacks.”

“Ibis, why do you want Coldsteel to come with us? He’s a total idiot.”

“Both him and Lightning Dust are very fast. I want them to travel back and forth to keep us communicated.”

“When do we leave?”

“Now,” she said before letting out a long phrase in Latin, which made both Coldsteel and Lightning Dust appear right in front of her.

“What the hay?!” the pegasus screamed.

Ibis gave them a brief summary, and they both agreed to join the mission, to Havoc’s surprise. In less than an hour Havoc, Lightning Dust and Coldsteel were riding atop Ibis’ massive back as she soared the skies.

Author's Notes:

Damn, this one took forever.